Knowing Me, Knowing You
by inexchangeforyoursoul
Summary: The rather half-baked story of how Trafalgar Law made quite a booboo by switching bodies with some cafe assistant girl. (Started as practice, got long enough to publish... as of ch 29, this be officially LawxOC. He's as much of an awkward nerd as he always should be tbh. Will be around 40 chapters, slow burn, friendship, mainly OC PoV and NOT an AU)(on a hiatus here whoops)
1. That's so dumb, why would you do that

So, as this is something I started as practice, let's just get this over with this first: there's no guarantee that I'll ever finish the whole thing. My attention span is shit, as soon as I hyperfocus on another thing it's adios, amigos. (For at least 6 months, if not 5 years or 5ever.) Also, I don't write a lot and my style is rather convoluted, sorry about the consequences- you are already experiencing them. Anyway, I've never jotted down any of… these types of ideas, ever. So there's that, too. Anywho, without further ado...

* * *

„I imagine... this is pretty high on your list of 'worst decisions ever made'." is all she can muster in a voice that has an unfamiliar tinge of a higher pitch while looking down at an extended arm that is definitely not hers. As in, things she wasn't _born_ with.

"I..." he starts, trying to rationalize the situation, but cuts the sentence off right there. The face, which used to be her playing field, looks just as stern and vaguely embarrassed as his would, and is quickly losing color, then gaining more than usual. A slim hand halfheartedly twitches into motion to reverse the mistake, to no avail- another digs into now longer hair in disbelief.

His devil fruit was, naturally, left with his body- a body which now _she_ resides in. So if they want to regain their... privacy should be the word, well...

She looks back at her "new" hands- this doesn't feel all that different. Apart from her head not hurting from hitting it into a shelf yesterday, that is- instead, there is an easy to ignore stinging in her left wrist and side which might as well be from straining or a fall. As far as powers are concerned, though... she has no idea where to even begin if she wanted to give them a try. She's not even sure how Law ended up swapping them in the first place; after the first few hours of acquaintance it's clear that it takes little talent to push the man's thinly veiled buttons; playing dumb is beyond effective, even if it's sarcasm, -to which he is no stranger to in the first place, so what even is his deal?- but no matter what happened, he always kept his head straight. At least he did in this almost-week of acquaintance. He didn't drink as far as she knows, either, nor had an especially bad day, so... what was it that pushed him over the brink?

The handful of eye witnesses are also frozen in shock.

"Holy shit," is all that Usopp breathes as the ' _yes, that just happened_ ' sinks in. Chopper keeps slurping from his straw, even though his cup of milkshake has been empty for the past ten seconds. If the legends are to be trusted, they've experienced the consequences firsthand, and are also connecting the one, big, problematic dot in the picture based on it. Shachi and Penguin, who have presumably witnessed the effects more often, seem to be taking it better. Seem to.

"Well... thiiis is awkward," states the latter.

"And will remain so until it's... fixed," adds Shachi, scratching his nose. "... does this mean we have, like, two captains now?" he asks a second later, wondering.

"Well... I ain't no captain of yours." The statement in the de facto voice of their actual captain ups the awkwardness by multiple levels.

Grimacing, Penguin looks at Law, who has been staring at a nondescript wood grain on deck and is holding his head as he's likely trying to figure out something to deal with the problem; then shifts his attention to his captain's body and her in it, where he's greeted with a shrug. "As nice as it would be to have a cute captain, I guess we better hurry and do something as soon as possible." He summarizes. Shachi hums.

„Shucks, thanks~" The uncharacteristic tone makes the boys rather squeamish at this point while Law is reconsidering his life choices. The girl continues unfazed, though: "As for the fix, it's not that I couldn't... try. What's the worst that could happen, right?" Unsettling visions of many kind flash in front of everyone's eyes; before the occupant of her body could say anything, she concludes as a matter of fact: "Ripping out some vital organ and killing us both in an instant is what it is." She scratches her beard- this is a thing she has now. Which is actually pretty cool, because sometimes she muses over growing one, just for the hell of it- but then keep shaving for the rest of her life whenever she doesn't want it around? No, thank you. Now she gets to experience it free of charge, if this can be said about the situation.

Also, she's so... tall. She could get used to this, yes... feeling it. A lot.

"Is what it is," he speaks up finally, ignoring the amused half-smile that's slowly spreading over the girl called Kat's new face; "You'll need to go through some training before we even attempt this, or anything else, on a living target. Until that..." he takes a hard-to-identify look at himself, "we'll... have to get by as we can."

"No need to overthink it, alright. Should be fine." she assures him. "The longer I think about it, the more enjoyable this adventure seems, actually." She couldn't hide her grin if she wanted to. And even if she could... that glint in her eye? Whatever she's thinking of, it's a No and earns a suspicious look on Law's part.

"No funny business with my body." As the imagination if the boys is taking an obvious and immediate turn towards uncharted, wild, wild territories, he feels the need to clarify. Really now, if these hooligans had popcorn lying around, they'd be munching on it as if watching some especially exciting play unfold. "You will stay put; as in, right here. On board of one of the ships. Meanwhile I will stay put as best as I can while managing my crew, too, got it?"

"Yes, yes, geez," she says, rolling her eyes. Her place is right over there, down the coast past the docks, within plain sight, but whatever. He's lucky that right after the weekend there's a holiday, so she's free to play along for roughly six days despite having had other plans.

He doesn't look convinced. Well then.

"I will _not_ promise to stick to your diet, training plan, music taste, or... whatever your daily routine is, okay?" she continues, counting out the items on her hands- those tattooed to hell-and-back hands. Steering her attention back on topic, she straightens herself to pledge in as official of a manner as possible, even forcing herself to keep eye contact for more than one second: "But I hereby also declare to do my best not to get your body maimed by marines, headhunters, or any of the people you've pissed off with your attitude in the past twenty-something years." She closes her left hand, save one finger. "Pinky promise." After a moment of consideration, she adds 'you better give me a list, though'. He is a man of many secrets and twenty locks on his mouth, after all. Also, she doesn't actually know shit about him past being as much of a wallflower as her, _possibly_ having a degree and also a Reputation- keeping up with the news in general is not Kat's forte.

Law pulls his mouth to the side, but seems more relaxed upon hearing that. Then he turns around, leaving the expectant audience somewhat disappointed. "I'm... going back to my room. Come down tomorrow at 8. And do not fool around with the devil fruit powers until then."

"... should I just tell people who come to me that you fucked up?" she shouts after him before the door of the submarine could close. It stops halfway and stays ajar for a while. A harder pill to swallow than expected, huh.

He needs a minute to consider how to answer- the initial thought was to groan an exasperated "no, pretend everything's normal", but... getting his body back may take anything from a few days' time to... straight-up months, depending on her skills and outside forces. The option also leaves way too much room for shenanigans, which, based on the past two days, this woman here appears to indulge in. The harmless ones, yes... but she didn't appear to be one for Strawhat-brand tomfoolery at first, either, and what did he know. All in all, he's better off being safe than sorry. "Don't advertise it outside the alliance for both of our sakes, if you please. Also, they should look for me- I mean, you, if my skills are needed. The remaining ones, that is."

"Aye aye, captain~" he can hear from not too far away, with sarcastic tinge still intact. Law closes the door, staying still for a few seconds before making his way down to his chamber- does he really sound like that? He really needs to sleep on this if he can. Also, he has a rather big bump on his head and it _stings_.

The cool winds of the early night dissolve Kat's excitement from a mere minute ago, and she can feel her inner clock hitting one before bedtime. As she's about to turn around and get her stuff, it occurs to her that she's not supposed to go home- which gives her another rush of blood, and a slight sense of alarm.

"Wait... where _will_ I sleep?" she snaps back, expecting the answer from the four silent judges still idling by.

Chopper stops slurping.


	2. The Floor, Thousand Sunny, The Sea

"Sorry again for the inconvenience." she sighs while awkwardly standing around in the girl's room with Nami, who's been cleared up on the situation a minute ago. Usopp and Chopper, along with Carrot who was with the navigator at the time, are on their way to give a briefing to the rest of the Strawhat crew. She already feels like a burden, and is not even wearing her own face, which makes this already so much easier. Having another body is one thing; being the cause of even the smallest problem is... another animal altogether. A scary, ever-looming nightmare animal that silently bares its teeth all the time, but never gets to bite.

Shachi and Penguin offered her to get Ikkaku's help, but the only women she ever talked to past a 'hello' were Nami and eventually Robin. As such, it would have been especially awkward and uncomfortable to ask elsewhere. Ikkaku also was... a tomboy who partied alongside the guys all the time, and Kat likes her good night's sleep. The submarine manhole as a whole wasn't exactly inviting. The other ship was only one notch better, but she saw enough to know that the guys did not dare to anger the girls, so chances were that it's a quieter place to stay at.

"Never mind, it's not an issue. Nor your fault. Really, though... I can't believe Torao did something stupid like this." The other woman answers, pulling out covers from a cabinet for her to take, then proceeds digging into the back for the stray backup pillow they should have.

"Not that I know him that well, but I agree. Didn't think him to be the type to pull stunts like this. Like... if I suck, we could be stuck like this forever." She gives the material a quick stroke; a little rough from the sea air, but smells nice enough. She considered going down to the aquarium to sleep, the place was nice and the bench cushioned, after all. But damn if the chances aren't higher to be woken up in the middle of the night. Had enough of that during the brief year spent at college.

Floor of the girls' room it is.

Nami gives a chuckle. "He does have his own brand of dumb, but generally? This is not his style... oh, this should be it." she murmurs, pulling out a fluffy pillow. And a bunch of other stuff along with it...

"Um... can I help?" If Kat didn't feel out of place till that, she sure as hell does now.

"Yes- you can take this." Nami says, shoving the pillow into her face, then sticks the bulk of fabric as-is back to where it came from. Kat cracks a half-smile beyond the feathery boundary and feels a little better about the situation. She's also happy that there's no reason to hide it here- keeping a straight face when seeing something she finds amusing is always hard. And because of her sense of humor, sometimes just a wee bit inappropriate.

"I'll just... huddle up in a corner, then." she states, considering ways to include an armchair into her hopefully short-lived resting place.

"Are you honestly expecting me to be okay with that?" comes the expected question with a side of crossed arms.

She knows what Nami has in mind- they caught up to her and Carrot when latter mentioned being on the lookout for the night. In conclusion, there'd be enough space on the beds, but...

"Not really, but, uh... it would be pretty awkward to sleep right next to you guys like this, right?" She alludes to her "state", and can see that Nami leans towards agreeing a second later- after a long enough pause Kat assumes that she'll keep that to herself. "If it's any consolation, I haven't slept near another person since I was a baby girl, so I probably wouldn't be able to rest anyway. Actually, sometimes I fall asleep on a single pillow, so it's nothing out of the ordinary." Apart from, you know, being quite a bit bigger, needing two metaphorical pillows.

A sigh of a small defeat is all the redhead can muster, followed by Kat's suppressed sigh of relief. She wasn't lying about being uncomfortable with the idea, after all. Well, she probably would care much less than Nami and Robin would, even with the high likeliness of her being woken up by their movements. Either way, she's really trying not hide her opinions- less lies just come with less and quicker pain and fewer misunderstandings.

"Let me get that chair out of the way, then," Nami offers, pulling the object to the side and suspiciously checking the floor for wild dust bunnies. Seems clean enough. She steps aside and Kat plops down the one too many blankets and one pillow into a rather inviting pile. She does like making and sitting around in these, alright.

"This kinda feels like a sleepover." she states, having nestled herself into her one-pillow-fort. The bag which she brought along today is now behind the closet as to not be in the way of anyone. "Haven't had anything remotely similar since... well, some school excursions."

Nami sits into the other armchair, in case Kat would consider joining her in the one she just moved. "That sounds nice... our village did not have a school. Me and my sister were taught the basics at home... and most books we had were either ancient scraps, or, well... *cough* stolen." Kat chuckles. "I was pretty bad at the time and got always caught, though, so they were paid for in the end."

"All I ever stole was some chewing gum or straight-up change, because mom wouldn't buy us treats... eventually I got found out, too. The shitstorm, man... Anyway, what you had sounds way better to me." She says, eyes pasting the unidentifiable distance. "I wasn't exactly a fan of school... being bully target extraordinaire and all. Then the one new girl I made friends with in second grade left another two years later."

"I see... being alone like that is no fun indeed." She also stares a hole into the wall for a moment. "Meanwhile I was the one to beat up every kid who pissed me or Nojiko off."

Kat can imagine the scene very well. "Heh, I wish I had a cool friend like you. Wouldn't have helped with the actual problem at home, but it would have been really nice nonetheless."

Nami raises an eyebrow, and Kat catches the look she's being given.

"Um... how to put it... home wasn't exactly... better, you know. The older I got, the more I realized how much worse it made everything that happened at school. Everybody always screaming... abusing... and being wrecks themselves. At one point... I just stood in the house while everyone was away, and it just hit me. I realized I had no love left for anyone in there. Haven't had an actual conversation with them for years, either... then, after I dropped out of college and got my last load of being a disappointment, I got a job in the cafe. That's been maybe two years back already... haven't called since. Nor visited."

Nami stays still for a bit longer than comfortable. Kat thinks back to what she just said, and... whoops, did it again, didn't she.

"Ah, sorry, I... keep getting way too deep into personal stuff when I can relate it to a topic." she apologizes, red with embarrassment.

"It's fine, I like how honest you are." Her eyes light up, which makes Kat feel that whatever Nami is saying is as honest as her outbursts. "I can see why your manager keeps you around- talking clear text when something's wrong... that's a healthy business principle, if you ask me. The place is fabulous and comfortable, and I bet you had your hand in quite a few changes since you've been there. The people of Fumei love it, too!"

"Ah... thanks..." She's got another reason for being embarrassed now, and her color shows. "Sometimes I'm really afraid I get obnoxious with that. It adds nothing to the point, after all. The long list of places I didn't get into were on the same page about that."

"You really shouldn't care." Nami nods. Then looking at the flustered Kat, she also cracks a big smile. "By the way, you make an extremely adorable Torao."

"I do?" She asks, squishing her face. This is silly, but that's her middle name- or would be, if she had one. Nami starts laughing and Kat couldn't be happier- that's a success if she's ever heard one.

"I hope it takes a while for him to get his body back... weird fever dream Trafalgar Law won't get old any time soon."

"Will do, ma'am~" she states proudly. After a minute of silent laughter she gets an idea; "Oh my god, you know what I should do? _Law impressions_. When people least expect it."

"... you are an evil mastermind." Kat almost expects Nami to start rubbing her hands together. "If you can pull it off, that is. Doesn't really make sense otherwise."

Kat nods. She needs to be seriously serious when the time comes. Only... "Too bad I cannot keep a straight face to save my life."

"See, that's indeed a problem." comes her new confidant's answer. "You almost laughed when dangling in front of the blind guy who had no qualms killing you when his subordinate made that unfortunate pun about eyes, too."

She shrugs. "Couldn't help it. High quality situational comedy is always a godsend, even if I literally have to stuff my fist into my mouth. Not even the errand guy saw that right hook coming."

Nami groan-cackles, and Kat starts laughing at her amusement, too, which in turn makes Nami laugh again because of the dissonance between what's the usual Law and this current mess of a not-Law. This self-fueling nonsense goes on for about five minutes, until both of them are out of breath. After another minute, Nami breathes "...you're horrible." And so was the double pun at the expense of a very seriously injured man.

"I know... phew. And I'm also done for today." She sighs, then yawns a bit after. "Surely you also wanted to do something else before we stormed you and Carrot?"

"Right..." she says, also with a hint of exhaustion in her voice. She looks at the clock then towards the ceiling. "Wanted to write a log entry before bath... then go to sleep."

Kat groans, massaging her temples. "If Law keeps to his hissie fit for another day or two, I'll also have to ask you to let me bathe over here."

"Hey, consider negotiations done." Nami flaps a hand nonchalantly.

"Thanks. I'll wait the time limit out, though." With that, she falls to the side and drags out one of the covers from under her. Be it freezing or cooking, can't sleep without a partial blanket at least, this one.

"Whatever you want, Kat. Willing or not, you are the guest here." With that she stands up, and walks to the exit. "Want me to turn the lights off?"

She hums and the room goes dark. Maybe even half an hour passes as she's listening to the creaking wood, distant shouts, the faint thuds of occasional footsteps and the muffled sound of the sea outside before she drifts into sleep.

Another thirty minutes later Nami tiptoes back and turns on the nightlight. She takes a peek at her, and can't help but breathe a silent 'aww'.

As she's turning around, the door opens with Robin coming through. The navigator starts to point at the corner with great enthusiasm. Taking a look, the other smiles gently.

"Curled up like a kitten." she states.

"I knew you would appreciate it."


	3. Take those off or so help me

She never thought she'd wake up in time, considering she's set on the cafe opening at 9:30 and needs over an hour to get herself look alive, but here she was. Indeed, the girls -now with the addition of Carrot somewhere down the line- were still out of commission when she got up at last. The fresh steps and cheerful talk outside made a nice wake-up call around half past seven. Much more pleasant than the old alarm clock standing next to her bed.

First, she needed to remind herself that she's not... herself. As such, she decided against leaving the room before anyone else did. The last thing she needed on a day without her morning cocoa was a boot in the face, because... well, Sanji. Of course, he should have been informed, but she could absolutely see him forgetting about all that noise when she leaves the girl's abode in a man's body.

On the other hand, she can't wait to experience not being stalked by a white knight whenever within a one mile radius of the Thousand Sunny. Sweet, sweet freedom... it's so close she can taste it. _Oh yeah_.

In the end, things go smoothly and she even gets her much needed cocoa with the obligatory dash of coffee for perfection( and staying awake)'s sake. She could swear to taste a hint of hazelnuts in there, which is a nice extra. Truth to be told, Sanji seems rather lost... the situation must have short circuited his brain or something. She dare say he's become just about robotic... "weird fever dream Trafalgar Law" has already taken a victim, alright. Everyone else seems to love it, though. She'll take it.

Her appointment at the doctor's approaches fast enough, though, so she leaves the kitchen after scribbling around the newspaper crosswords for a while. Ten minutes should be just about enough.

As soon as she boards the submarine, she can hear a familiar scream closeby, and two other voices protesting vehemently almost immediately.

"CAPTAIII~N!"

By the time it registers what "enthusiastic scream" + "Trafalgar Law's body" + "orange smudge from the corner of the eye" add up to, it's already too late. Something tackles her and lays her flat out on deck, squeezing every ounce of air out of her. Something that's really big... and fluffy... Oh, the humanity!

"Shi- Bepo, that's not the captain!" She can hear Penguin's muffled voice through the uniform and thick fur.

The polar bear mink realizes the truth with a shock. "OH NO, YOU ARE RIGHT!" he shouts, basically jumping off her.

"God, Miss Kat...! Is everything alright?" Shachi asks while Bepo is getting a mouthful, offering a hand.

She cannot help but cackle as soon as she has enough air to do so. "No- no problem... god, that's... I've fallen victim to the most adorable bear mauling."

"D-do you mean you're not angry?" Bepo asks suddenly, as if he wasn't listening to Penguin at all. She could swear he's blushing under his pelt. Which... um, don't polar bears have black skin or something? Been a while since she read all those books on animals... then again, he's a mink, so who even knows.

"Nah, we're cool. I'm just glad I didn't include you guys in my promise," she says sitting up, checking the bruises on her arm. There better be no splinters in there, or so help her. Well, actually, those might eventually make good practice targets. Whatever.

She takes Shachi's hand; "I also better get going... your captain strikes me as a punctual guy," she says musing, and also trying to ignore the sting of the missing skin kicking in.

"Can't argue about that," her helping hand smiles. "do you want us to escort you?"

Oh, no no no, that won't do... "Thanks, but I don't wanna hold you guys up. Unless it's a labyrinth down there, that is- otherwise I'll be fine with basic directions."

"Just head down straight, then. The captain's room is at the bottom, to the right." he informs her, but stops to open the door nonetheless.

"Good luck with the training!" Penguin waves as she dives into the faint sea of lamps. Bepo's paw also shoots into the air while he's squeaking an 'ah'.

"Thanks~" she waves back.

Descending, she's amused by the metal stairs clanking and creaking under her feet. One floor down, she passes a pair of doors what's most likely the dining room. Some people are inside, talking... including Jean Bart, whose silhouette she can make out through the window. For a moment she considers saying hi, but then she'd rather not distract them, and anyway, she better hurry down already.

Which she does, and surprisingly fast. This place is at least one floor smaller on the inside than one would think. The outer walls must be pretty thick to do their job, huh. She starts wondering whether she missed a thick-ass door near the entrance, too. Because that little wooden thing is everything but safe.

As she's standing around the place she supposes she should be waiting at, pondering over stuff she admittedly has little knowledge about, movement can be heard from in the room to the right.

Maybe she should just... knock...

The door opens the next second, but she remains unnoticed as the captain leaves it. Law seems to be rather... miffed. He's also wearing his hat, and it looks ridiculous on her head. At least the dress from yesterday is the same white, so it's a match. Something's off, though... even with barely no lighting, it's beyond obvious.

Law, meanwhile, has been going through about how to get this crash course on the Ope-Ope fruit going. He couldn't get much sleep, so instead he tried to remember how he himself acquired his skills, most importantly the personality transplant surgery, which is the whole point of it. However, they needed to get started on the basics, and no matter how far he got with the planning, he found an underlying problem in his system- he had seen Corazón use his powers a lot, and built his most basic skills around what he saw: a bubble of influence. A Room. Kat, however... only ever saw him use his powers once, and chances are, she didn't even pay attention to him at the time. Well, twice, with yesterday included.

All in all, he has no idea how to explain the abstract idea of what he does without illustrating it to her. He has no time to waste, though, she could be here any-

"Hi."

Law visibly jumps from the scare; he looks straight-out offended for her to have managed doing that.

"What? Never wondered why my name got abbreviated to what's basically "cat"?" she asks with a coy smile. She's positively pleased with this feat. Her eyes then wander to the ground, and the second she realizes what's been bugging her beside the hat, she freezes.

"No..." He never considered it to be anything else than an actual name, but... "it's an apt nickname, I suppose." He can't even finish the sentence as she snorts. His disdain returns.

" _You put_ _ **those**_ _on... under_ _ **that**_ ," she squeals between tears. Jeans... He put on fucking jeans under the skirt. And they are _way too big_. How they don't fall off- or whether they fit up her hips at all, which opens another can of worms altogether- is a mystery.

Already the wildest day she's had for ages, and it's barely eight o'clock in the morning. She's already so done with everything.

"... yes, I did." He acknowledges after taking a deep breath. He's visibly displeased with the situation. "I'm not exactly used to wear... a skirt." And embarrassed, too. He's likely to have tried on other clothes before settling back for the dress, but...

Kat tries the best to calm herself down after almost choking on her own spit. "Al'ight... _alright_." She breathes, collecting herself. "How about *cough* a little change of plans... and we get you something that actually fits *cough* first."

He lifts an eyebrow. "... elaborate?" Definitely not going out shopping, if that's what's being suggested here.

"Believe it or not... I'm not much of a skirt fan myself," she says with one last little cough following it, then wipes away the tears.

"Oh?" Law's interest has been piqued.

"Apart from work I rarely wear these, really. I have a lot more pants and sweaters than anything else. So we can just pick some up at my place. If you're in it, anyway."

That's a combination he can get behind... he just might agree to a detour. He nods. "Sounds fair."

"..."

"..."

"*cough*"

"... what?"

"We are going nowhere until you got rid of those pants."


	4. Plan C

It takes about ten minutes of convincing, but she finally gets him to take off the ridiculous looking piece of clothing. On his way out, he shoves a long sword into her hands.

"Woah...! What's this for?" is her surprised reaction. She's also vaguely excited, because... swords.

"Kikoku. I don't leave base without it." He states as a matter of fact.

"... alright. I'll just assume you have no problem handling it at the moment." she mumbles, throwing it... no, not around her neck, the weapon doesn't fit the corridor, unless she crab walks her way back outside... over her shoulder it is.

He stops up at the entrance for one too many seconds. She decides not to push her luck and just wait it out. It takes long enough for some crew members nearby noticing the holdup, though. Uni and... Clione, was his name? She waves at them. They mimic the gesture and disappear behind the corner, but not before giving a thumbs-up... She sighs. There's a wee little feeling they may not have been informed as of yet. Either that, or they are ignoring the situation altogether. Oh bother.

"... this still feels really weird." he groans eventually, hand hovering over the doorhandle.

She tries to come up with something to calm-slash-convince him: "No person whatsoever will even recognize you outside, okay...? Worst case scenario, we run into an acquaintance of mine and say hello. And, well... count your blessings? I have short ones, too. Albeit I'd never wear those without leggings, so... fair enough." With a groan, she acknowledges that this incoherent rambling is not getting them anywhere. "Anyway, look..." she says, stepping closer. "the sooner we're over this, the faster it ends, okay? Think of the pants, Law. _The pants_... they are only five minutes away from you."

All he can muster is a sigh. The last section is more ridiculous and worse than anything else before it... but somehow, also better. "You are not one for pep talk."

"... can't argue with that." Kat admits. "I'm generally bad with words... and make things worse." What else could she do in this situation, though? Shove him outside herself? Actually, no... that's rude. "Alright, I'll ignore the realization that this body is probably strong enough to just drag you anywhere I want to and offer plan C instead: we talk about the stuff you want to say anyway while we are out walking. Should be distraction enough, no?"

He turns around halfway- what she first said was slightly unnerving while absolutely true. The second part, though, is as good of an idea as it can get. "See, that's more of a plan."

"Oh, nice," she says, almost puzzled that it worked. Uncertainty returns a second later, however. "Is it enough to get going, though?"

He turns back to the door and puts a hand on the handle. For a moment, he muses over how lucky he is that noone came through during all of this. Before opening it, he takes another quick look back, to which Kat reacts with a vaguely encouraging thumbs-up. If only he could be as nonchalant about this whole thing as her... oh well.

Having gotten outside and off the vessel, they start walking into town and Law adjusts his hat which has trouble staying put. She can't help but smile: "By the way, that looks incredibly silly on me."

"... so?" he retorts, not even hiding that he's offended.

She puts her hands up in surprise. "Hey, hey, sorry... I see it's a sentimental value thing, never mind."

"It's not..." The answer comes a little too fast, he finds. Anyway, "I'm just used to having it where it belongs. Like my nodachi."

"I know, I also can't stay calm if I don't have my pens at hand at all times... I'll take good care of the baby, don't worry," she says patting her bag and the blade with a smile, totally ignoring the look being given. She's got a prickly, sweet pear here by the looks of things. That's a pleasant surprise, great relief, and overall good news. "Well then... how will we kick this private introductory seminar on devil fruits off, Professor Trafalgar?" She asks turning back to him.

Even though it's intended as a joke, the tone and... whole sentence sound unexpectedly specific. It's when the last two words sink in when Law stumbles on the cobblestones, though. "Wha'?"

"... careful." she blinks at him. "And I asked about your improvised syllabus."

Wait a sec here. "... I know it's none of my business and has little to do with the question, but... am I right to assume that you've had tertiary education?" He asks with an incredulous voice entering halfway through. Her vocabulary made him guess that she was from a well-off family, but that's not necessarily the case all of a sudden. For a small, but specific reason, he just never even considered it.

"I prefer to call it "the 1.5 years of my life I'd rather delete from memory without a trace," but yes, I was at college," comes the straight answer with a nod. She stares direction crossroads.

It just doesn't want to add up to him. Unless she's some genius, graduation does not come earlier than the age of 17; this was followed by up to two more years related to school, and now she's an established member of a town she's admittedly not from... it doesn't seem to make sense, because... "Sorry, but... you look like someone who just graduated."

"Heheh, mom's genes," she flashes a faint smile. "I'm 24... she also looked younger than her age until she hit about 40, even though she was always stressed from whatever she focused on. Time will eventually catch up with me. Also, no offense taken."

Law takes a note of the fact that she hasn't looked anywhere else but the road ahead since the topic surfaced. Usually she would turn in the general direction of the person she's talking to, occasionally glimpsing into their eye, but this was just way too passive. He knows he hit some sensitive issues and decides to better leave it be. Either way, here he was thinking she's not older than 20... well, at least he's hopefully got a more mature student at hand than anticipated.

They take a right at a post with some signs on it, the one facing them and pointing towards said direction saying "Sheoo". It's the main street- save for some horses, a mother and her two children, an elderly couple sitting under a tree, and another group of kids on bikes playing in the distance, there's noone outside.

"That's a Sunday morning for you... on a holiday, nonetheless." She flips the sword around her neck as first intended and takes a smug look back at him. "And you threw a fit."

He grunts and shrugs. Local holidays are one thing, and one doesn't really keep up with the days of the week on sea, either... unless they are a religious bunch, he supposes. At the same time he knew yesterday was a Saturday, so he has no right to complain. The people being inside is one blessing he's willing to count, though.

"Alright, let's just start and go over the basics," he says donning the temporal professor position as they walk down the road, and goes through a list of abilities he gained in the period he's had his fruit. He's into it enough that she has to grab his collar by the time they pass the right corner.

"Turning... anyway, since I've already interrupted you, here's what I've gathered... if I get things working I can theoretically A: levitate things around me and have them switch places; B: cut stuff into pieces without causing any harm to the target; and C: zap the shit out of anything. All of these within a certain area I would need to define myself. Oh, and the target can be something abstract, as you've already illustrated. Is that it?"

"You didn't have to point the last thing out, but yes, that's it." he replies after going through her abbreviated list. She picked up everything that was important, good- however... "Refer from doing that, would you." he adds, swatting her hand from the dress. The only ones who can give him unwanted attention are his crew. And, uh, Luffy, because he can't really get rid of him anyway. And Carrot, who is as touchy as Bepo... and maybe Chopper. Maybe. Goddamn fluffy critters and their soft, warm fur.

"... depends on the reach, but it sure sounds broken as hell to me, not gonna lie." Especially if she compares things to the basic ability of 'can stretch really far'. Then again, this here also can be summed up as 'electricity aided transport' which is basically trams that are faster and better than those in the capitol Wenna two islands over, so whatever. She slows down and digs into her tote bag, listening for the key jingles.

"It's a big favorite for a reason, especially with the big shots."

She raises an eyebrow and turns towards him at their stop, still fiddling inside the bag. "Okay, provided you are not shitting me... no, actually, while it's very useful, it really is not _that_ interesting of a power. I'd love it for taking out the trash and securing a big, hot plate of soup with no risk of it splashing it about, but... what good would this do to a fat cat? They already have servants, if not straight-out slaves doing these things for their useless asses..." She grabs hold of a bunch of cold, clinking fishes in the sometimes seemingly bottomless sea on her side. "Honestly, I'm at a loss. Why the fuck would it be popular with anyone else but people interested in the body and healing?"

The way her logic splashes around towards the rant's conclusion amuses him quite a bit. Dare he...? Why not. "It's because there's this other thing you can do with it called 'Perpetual Youth Surgery'."

"Sounds fancy enough... perpetual youth..." She's going through her one too many keys. A lot of them are antiques or haven't been used in years by the looks of it. "So basically whoever gets it stays young... forever. As in, forever forever?" she asks, looking back up, squinting in disbelief.

"Yeah." The immediate exasperation on her face is amazing. She stops fidgeting with the keys, holding one that's likely the one she was looking for and turns to him.

"Let me get this straight... some idiots want to become immortal... and... and you sure as hell get these assholes chasing after you just because of this, too... right?"

He nods. Now, for the last stroke... "Doing it just once would also kill me, for the record."

Her poker face cracks barely, and her control over her breath is also good... but from under the hat he can see the brows furrow just a bit more than usual, and hear the keys creak under her fingers, likely scraping off years worth of filth each other, revealing their true colors; most importantly, however, her eyes reflect the full scope of sheer indignation she feels after running through it all in her head again... she cannot find the words. After a minute she remembers he's also there, and lifts a finger asking for another moment to calm down. Then ready, set, go...

"I may not be the popular vote, but I'd rather receive a bullet to the head _right now_ than become immortal. What kind of _troglodyte_ thinks watching friends and family die all the time is a fun activity... then becoming too old to get new technology, too?" A short break with a quick, deep breath. "Some think it's hot stuff, but immortality is the most _useless_ superpower _ever_." The emphasizing hand swing at the end makes Law think she's going to throw the key cluster against the wall. Having let some of the steam out, she sniffs and adds a thought that squeezed itself among the others at the highest of her rage, one she cannot ignore: "Unless it's some self-entitled sick fuck with too much free time. Those only care about themselves anyway..." She inhales once more, to let out the rest of the stress. "Let's get inside... I think I'll pop that cider at last." With that, she turns around to open the little gate leading up tho the narrow, two story row home she lives in.

He just nods. The conversation gave him a certain peace of mind- his body is in good, albeit untrained hands. She has no idea, nor will have any, because it won't show- but she just scored up to three cookie points in his book.


	5. Took 5 chapters, but she does the Thing

"Here you go, this... is my pants pile." she states after raiding three different shelves across the board, dumping the big heap of fabric onto the bed. They finally reached the goal, that is the first floor bedroom overlooking the street. Walking out, she points at a cabinet next to the window. "The shirts and such are there, under the books- you can handle that yourself."

"Okay," he grumbles; he has all the info he needs. Although there's the temptation to ask where she's going, but judging by the noises she's just down in the kitchen and not planning on leaving the house, so he leaves it be and turns towards the task at hand.

A good chunk of what's not sweatpants seem to be denim; this is as good as a jackpot right now. He decides to look into the wardrobe first, though. There are no big surprises in there... that extra thick pile to the far right, though... could it be...? He takes the red one out on top... Why, yes, those are all, indeed, hoodies. With neutral, if not rude content at the front. _Nice._

He takes out half of the pile and sets it aside, then moves onto the T-shirts and sweaters; she's not very picky. There's virtually everything in there, ranging from pastel through smart-casual to straight-up goth, or some combination of these. Some simpler ones have seen a lot of wear, others are, as far as he can tell, brand new. Once he finds himself in a staring contest with Brook on a tee, he decides it's time to stop. Something about it seems off, though... the material is near new, but the paint is already missing from a spot or two... it's not like any Soul King merch he's seen either. A knockoff, maybe? At the same time, that really is some good fabric, so it doesn't quite add up. There were a few similar ones, too, now that he thinks about it...

He's turning around to put the rest of the pile back, when he notices some tubes and cans behind the corner of the cabinet. On the thick windowsill overlooking the street there's other stuff than just some pillows as he first guessed- he can also see what looks like blank paper, pencils, and... a few pieces of canvas propped to the side, maybe? He's more interested in the colorful bottles, though. He picks up the nearest one- blue fabric paint. Mystery solved, he guesses.

He takes one last look at the skull, then puts the pile of clothes inside. She did seem an artsy one, that one he won't dispute- never would have guessed the forms it manifested in, though. Looking around, there's also some small paintings dotting the wall- nondescript people standing in various places. Possibly sketched from imagination or memory, as there's not much detail in most of them. The signature on the closest one says... well, Kat. Weird of her to not use her initials instead, but whatever. All in all, not his thing, but it's pretty decent stuff.

"You done sorting yet?" he can hear from the door, followed by a clink.

He turns around- she has a bowl in her right hand and is eating what appears to be cereal. Thinking about it, he only ever saw her shoving down snacks. And the medium pizza that she spirited away between him looking that direction twice. That one still haunts him. "Please tell me you eat actual food sometimes... also, no, I've yet to go through the pants. By the way, didn't you say something about a cider earlier...?" He asks with suspicion. She better not have drunk that before going for the cereal bowl.

Kat shrugs. And swallows. "First of all, we come here mainly for that stuff and I see you never even touched it? Dude... Second: I eat all the garbage I want to... also, I changed my mind when I saw the box." Next spoon. "I'll have to drink that soon enough, though, bottle's near-expired. Didn't want to refuse it from my boss, you know? But booze is nasty, no matter the flavoring. Especially when there's no salty treats to eat along with." She states, putting another spoonful into her mouth, then comes to an abrupt halt upon swallowing and her eyes go wide. "Oh, right... You have something against, what'sitcalled... gluten, right? If it's an allergy you better help me right now because I stuffed down half a package of whole grain cookies a minute ago."

The amusement over her mild panic is suppressed by the notion itself, taking him by surprise. "No, I don't... where did you even get the idea?"

"Well, for starters," she eats another dose, since apparently everything's alright, "I've seen you guys eat three times thus far, and you specifically? I have never seen you touch a sandwich... or those nice buttered baguette slices, although they were godlike. Meanwhile you snack on virtually everything else in front of you. So I just figured you might be intolerant." She explains in confidence, ending with another shrug and a smaller spoon of cereal. The rest will be harder to get to... time to tilt.

This description makes Law... nervous. He decides against voicing that, though. "I... see... well... I just don't like bread. That's all there is to it."

She stops chewing. "Zat's... a weed shois do have an avesshon do, not honna 'ie."

It's his turn to shrug. "I ate nothing else for weeks straight at one time and got fed up. Most people have that, usually with an old favorite, no? I just cannot get it down my throat ever since."

"Ah, yes... I'm like that with raisins." she says. "Once I ate almost two whole packages... but by the end the little plant parts and stray seeds disgusted me. I couldn't eat them afterwards, picking them out of every cake and whatever else- lately I'm okay with the big, golden ones, though." Nom. "Things I have no reason to dislike are green beans and licorice, though. One for the hairy texture, other for the taste. Oh, and I also won't eat peppers unless they are raw. They taste really weird when cooked. Or roasted... or anything."

By the time she gets to the end of her self-indulgent monologue, he's already digging into the glorious pants pile. She takes a look at what he's picked so far, and... is mildly confused. And concerned.

"Umm... you really wanna pack stuff for the next two months, or...?"

"..." Looking again, he has to admit that it really is a lot of clothes. Act natural... "Well, we cannot possibly know how long this whole ordeal will take, can we?"

"... fair enough. We can just come back, though. And wash."

Okay, he's been had. "... touché. If you want to, just put the ones you definitely don't want to lose back to the others."

She hums. As he resumes sorting through stuff, she remembers a certain piece from right over there, though. Shoving some clutter to the side, she makes some space for the rest of her cereal on the desk next to her and digs into the bottom of the pants pile, looking for something dark. Law seems to have found something noteworthy, too.

"Lace?" he raises an eyebrow. He's both baffled that jeans like this one exist, and slightly alarmed at the thought of 'it looks rather nice'.

"Oh, found that one? I already forgot about it... was a second hand bargain, brand new and a perfect fit... but it's not my style and such, so haven't worn it at all. Might as well keep it forever. Anyway," she grunts, dragging out something," here, this is the most 'you' piece I've got." He's offered another pair of dark blue jeans with decorative black threads; she then steps over to the shirts and whatnot to cut the load. Law finds that the piece given to him also saw little wear thus far. He flips it open to take a better look, and notices... some additional yellow rhinestones around the pockets and knees...

He blinks. It's easy enough to guess what kind of stuff he's perfectly fine wearing, but combined with the previous gluten remark... it's getting worrying, to say the least. "... you are a rather scary woman, you know that?" he asks, still fixated on the garment and taking a mental note to just _maybe_ mix up his wardrobe a little bit. Maybe not start a lace collection, but, you know.

She shrugs. "You know how the saying about the silent ones goes." she jokes. Yes, he does, is part of the club, and that's what makes him antsy over here. "On a more serious note... if there's one thing I have going for me, then it's that I'm a good observer. So I'll take that as a compliment."

"That's still a lot of details for us having met on Tuesday." And he usually notices when being watched, not to mention the short timeframe- Kat is scary, goddammit. He's grateful to all the people with observation skills like these doing mundane things like taking care of the image of some shop instead of... tell it as it is, spy work and assassination. Speaking of observation, though... there's no guarantee, but he'll have to probe whether she has haki. If so, she's totally unaware.

"If it makes you sleep easier, you are not alone. I noticed odd habits all across the alliance board, with few exceptions." She says, then realizes that this must have had the total opposite effect than intended. Some of the things she did notice would definitely fly a red flag if the person knew, too. "Okay," she turns towards him, getting a look. "I know what you are thinking, and you are right: what I just said sounds way creepier. Let's just... pack these things and forget this conversation ever happened."

He agrees with a hum, symbolically zipping his mouth. Grabs one more pair of pants to throw on the greenlit bundle a second later, though. For good measure.

The whole reaction appears silly to her... it does ease her anxiety somewhat, though. He can be cute if he wants to. "Ready?" she asks with a little smile. Her expression fades into a thoughtful one once she surveys the things they've sorted out, though. She still should have the thing that's perfect for this task. "I'll need to get the one big bag from the Dump for all this."

He blinks. "The... Dump?"

"The door between here and the bathroom. It's a smaller place I've had no use for... so I just throw in whatever I don't need at the moment." she explains, giving the beard a scratch again. "It's... kinda messy. If I can't spot it immediately, it might take a while. But multiple medium bags will also do, we have to find either." There's, of course, the possibility that the lesser bags are all stuffed into that tent of a thing one she used for moving in, though...

'I see,' is what he wants to say, but something's making noise at the entrance- it's the pile of junk she propped up for the bowl, except it wasn't a stable construction, and now... it's all sliding back to reclaim its rightful place on the desk, pushing the porcelain to the side by the second, until-

"Nonono-!" she squeaks, reaching towards the faraway object in vain.

Next thing she knows, though: she's holding it. Umm… correction: holding _most_ of it. There's a small, but clean, and slightly angled cut at the top and the missing piece cracks unceremoniously on the ground. A chunk of her desk itself also falls, albeit on the bed she was reaching over- similarly to some of the victorious mess. The other part of it is burying the sad shards.

Law is about as surprised as she is- and also relieved. She... she did it. Decapitated just about everything, yes, but good enough for a start. Step one, which he was most concerned about, is done. As the shock fades, Kat's eyes light up- theory is one thing, but actually doing it... this... is goddamn _cool_.


	6. Barbie boy

"... it's... angular..."

The baffled comment wakes her from the awe stupor, and she slowly leans back to stand normally again. He's holding the desk piece, which she didn't notice him taking until now, and is pasting the mess at the entrance. Indeed, that's literally the corner of the desk. Anyway, what?

"What do you mean, 'angular'?"

He directs his attention back to the desk piece and takes a closer look at the cut. It's as clean as it can get, alright- but upon closer inspection, it's not one, straight guillotine chop- towards the far end, it splits into smaller shapes, which are not even cubic, but hexagonal.

"When I use the Ope Ope Fruit, it's... well, spherical in nature. Meanwhile, what you did..." he raises the piece of material with the cut well visible to her, "is this."

She takes it from him, giving the funky cut a good ogle. "I see... each to their own, I guess? People think differently and such, after all." He nods. That's probably all there is to it.

She puts the bowl on the chest of drawers that Law raided earlier, and turns the other object in her hand around. Then looks back at the bowl. "I guess I needed an extension to my arm, and that's just what happened... Except I was everything but precise."

He crosses his arms, thinking- her straightforward conclusions make perfect sense. It makes them no less interesting, though. He might want to record her progress and maybe even get into some deeper research if they have time to spare.

As he's thinking about that, she goes back to the damaged piece of furniture and places the missing block to where it belongs. It will probably need some glue to make sure it stays put, but otherwise? Looking as good as new.

"Well, I'm off to get this mess under control. Meanwhile you could... get into some clothes you are comfortable in?" Now that she noticed, she's really wondering about that. "Which you haven't done yet for some reason?"

Law needs a second to process the question before the penny drops- he's been going through a whole wardrobe, but never even thought about changing. He just about forgot about the dress-induced cramp from earlier. Fiddlesticks.

"Right..." Good thing he's not the type to show embarrassment. Thankfully, she seems satisfied enough with the meager answer and makes her way downstairs with the not entirely wrecked bowl in her hands; meanwhile, he steps back to the bed to pick out a shirt with those rhinestone jeans he's definitely gonna wear just for the hell of it.

After a quick survey of what Kat's left in his stack (and resisting a tee with golden pressed pattern for the time being), he settles on a simple black shirt with some small embroidery on its left. It has the town's name, and by association, its likely crest. Must have been some free merchandise. Now, for the problem at hand...

He'll have to take the dress off, which should pose no problem, in theory. He's also a doctor, been there, done that. The impasse is at not being sure where to begin... there's no buttons or zips he's noticed. The neck seems little too small, but he should probably just pull it over his head nonetheless. The test run never starts, however, because as soon as he grabs the end of the fabric, Kat is coming up, into and out of the bathroom, then reenters her study-slash-bedroom.

"Never mind me," She says kneeling down with a broom and dustpan to the semi-garbage pile in the doorway, immediately putting a clipped pencil and some undamaged sticky notes aside. Noticing the dead silence, she checks on Law to see him ogling her. Then clearing his throat.

Oh, that's what's going on.

"Sorry... it's hard to remember that you are supposed to care about privacy... I've either been alone or sharing one bathroom-slash-toilet with five other people. Won't look, alright?" With that, she steps over the pile and turns around to clean up the mess that way instead.

He blinks, hands still holding onto the skirt. "Dude..." Whether he's willing to strip with her around, -in his own body, nonetheless, which is the one thing that makes this _really_ weird,- is one thing, but also, that was more detail than he'd ever need.

Which she catches onto almost immediately. Goddammit. "Oh... sorry again, you may have already noticed I don't have a lot of filters. Anyway, thinking about it... if anything, it's our own current bodies that we shouldn't be looking at, no?" She asks, musing. He kinda agrees. "By the way, unbutton the back first, or you'll never peel that dress off."

Noted. He releases the fabric to fiddle around his neck. Which is really dumb, how is he even supposed to reach there easily, her arms apparently being flexible enough to do so notwithstanding...? Actually, why do clothes for women even have buttons and zippers in places like that all the time? It's so unpractical... eh, there's probably some sexy factor. Either way, this.. is not getting him... anywhere...

"... um..."

"Need help?" She asks just about the time he's given up on the two buttons he managed to find at least, sweeping the leftovers she deemed disposable onto the pan.

"... I do..." And it's such a simple task, too... Those times when he could just snap a finger and get rid off everything he had no patience getting out of after a long day? Yeah, he remembers those. Good ones.

"Alright, let me see," she mumbles walking up to him. As he doesn't react past standing still, she takes matters- that is, her hair- in her own hands.

Every single strand of his sticks up from the sensation. He's always been picky about letting his hair being touched, but the same with long hair is worse... the less ticklish and more nerve-stroking, odd feeling on the nape that sends shivers down his spine is not something he'll want to experience again any time soon. The locks fall over his shoulders, then he feels a warm finger on his back for the shortest moment and the collar loosen shortly after. _Thank god it's over._

"I see you are uncomfortable... sorry about that." she says with a sheepish half-smile, feeling somewhat embarrassed because of that herself.

He shivers once more. "Never mind, had worse. Anyway, I'd rather do this without you being around, okay?" He says, tucking the hair back.

"Well then..." She is about to go and bring out the trash, but before even taking one step, she takes his hat off on a whim. "This will be in the way, though."

"Ah..." His hand instinctively reaches towards it and he sounds almost... disappointed- and is beating himself up for both immediately after.

Aw.

She offers it back to him. "I won't take it anywhere if you don't like." He takes it away with a hum, but doesn't look like putting it anywhere anytime soon. Peeking at the nodachi she propped up against the wall upon arrival, she comes to the realization that letting him keep it is actually counterproductive: the item on her body's head could eventually get them both into trouble. It's way too easy to have an outsider get the wrong and dangerous idea. He's a wanted man for various reasons, and she could be seen as a weak point. Law could get targeted while he's stuck inside her, but at least help would be ready at an arm's length; Kat herself could, however, also get into deep shit if the trouble hits after they get their bodies back and the alliance is long gone. They would probably come back or send help because of people like Nami and Chopper, who were also likely the only reason they stuck around to help her and the townspeople taken hostage last week, but still, this is bad in either scenario. She sighs. "I think you do agree that it's probably a bad idea to wear it yourself out in public, though. No?"

Hearing this breaks him free from the frigid haze. He doesn't like it, but he knows what he means and she's right, hell, late with the reasonable remark as they already marched down the main street like this. "Yes, it's... indeed a bad idea."

He reaches the fluffy piece back over to her after giving it a thoughtful stroke.

"I'll take good care of it," she assures him, giving her own hand a small squeeze before taking it. "I'll be your coat rack while outside, and you'll have your stuff back as soon as we're back on the ship, alright?"

He nods, to which the answer's a reassuring smile. "Well then... I'll let you do your thing. Will come back up in about 10 minutes, is that okay?"

"Yeah," he says, still feeling a little naked with the hat gone just like that. She puts latter on to make her hands free for the other stuff, then takes the door by the foot and hop-drags it until it counts as closed, somehow keeping all the paper and whatnot in the dustpan while at it. She could have used the broom to do that... but she's rather goofy, so whatever. Indeed, he can hear her hum a tune while leaving. He shouts after her:

"Slick it back, otherwise the hair will just annoy you." There's a brief stop outside, followed by a muffled 'got it'.

Before long, he can barely hear anything she does. He looks back at the clothes, but stops to rub her fingers a bit before changing. First, he thought that his body's temperature seemed really high... but it's her hands that are as cold as ice.

* * *

you can touch his hair, undress him every- well, no, she just took the hat

Anyway, as you may have noticed, I'm being evil to myself and give each chapter its own title now. As if I didn't have enough problems naming entire pieces already, hoo hoo!

(I'm also really happy to have found a point I could cut this one, too... the chapter would have gotten WAY too long otherwise... same for the previous three! Can you even imagine all of those mashed together? Poor people who read "just one more", which ends up being five... I need to think of the children, don't I.)


	7. In which there's improvised sex ed?

"Aaare you done?" comes the question from beyond the door right as the bells start ringing outside.

The tower is right in view from where he stands, so he can tell that it's apparently half past nine. He cannot believe that they wasted over an hour with shenanigans and idle chitchat. She surely gave him more than ten minutes, too. Not that he wasted the extra time; he put away the clothes that didn't make the cut, after all, and also made her bed while he was at it. She needs some order in this room, every flat surface that's not the floor is a catastrophe. Sheesh.

"Yep, you can come in," he sighs, placing Kikoku on top of the clothes resting neatly on the end of the bed.

"Oh..." Kat looks surprised to find said piece of furniture looking so organized. "Thanks, you really didn't have to."

"Eh, had enough time to kill." In fact, he was already ogling the haphazard book pile on the cabinet a minute ago. "What took you so long anyway?"

She looks to the side, then back at him, then down. "Well, before I came over... um..." Sigh. "It's dumb and kinda irrelevant, to be honest," she says finally, scratching her neck.

An incredulous but understanding 'okay' is all that Law can answer to that. He also had something dumb happen to him that he couldn't solve, after all. Might as well inform her. "By the way, just so you know... I didn't even try to change your underwear." Is what it is, had no idea where to look, and he's not one for going commando, either.

She slaps her temple, almost flinging the hat off. "Damn, I knew I forgot something." Before he could answer, she presents him a pair of shoes that are, just by appearance, a lot more comfortable than what she had on. "Will get some stuff asap. And here, you take these instead of the fancy ones."

He's more than happy to ditch the cute shoes for action sneakers. Something hits him on the head- she just threw a pair of socks at him.

"Get rid of the cheap nylon socks and put those on," she instructs while digging into what looks like a textile bag inside a drawer. "I'm gonna go ahead and not put anything extra regarding panties for you... like this one... I need to get rid of the laced ones already..." she mutters to herself.

Now, he doesn't know what kind of stuff she has... but he's getting worried nonetheless. "Um... those are really not that... necessary." Having said that, Law notes that she's yet to mention bras... well, there was no bra under the dress, either. Not sure if he should be happy or more concerned, though. On one hand, this is definitely the more comfortable alternative, on the other... having two wobbly humps all of a sudden is weird and distracting, even if they are small. He'd rather they stayed put...

"Sssh... it's okay, gotcha. They aren't that necessary, you can use your own junk." She says waving a few other pair of socks trying to calm him down, then slams the drawer back on the curious bags made of some fabric.

"Um... wording," is what he says after staring at her. It doesn't take her long to take an immature snort at that- and here he was already thinking she actually was taking these issues as a maturely as possible. Never mind.

"Unless, of course," she adds, "you cannot fit your trunks on me. Then it's a moot argument."

He's about to make a snide remark, but then he realizes something else. She knows what's under his jeans...

"Wait, when did you...?" There's probably no need to be alarmed by this because of the circumstances, but still.

"I was late because of a _loo test run_ , man." She blurts out, tossing the couple of socks on her bed. "Needed some mental preparation, alright?" After some consideration, she adds, "And puh-l _ease_ , I know the color and shape of what you have on right now. As do you," she remarks, being aware of the fact that she's way too amused by this; that, and his rosy cheeks. He's likewise displeased with her being entertained... try to adult this, woman. The underwear talk reminds her of something important, though, something that stifles her smile... shit, when was the last time again? At least two weeks ago... no, as of yesterday, it's been... three...

"Oooh..." Is the only thing she can muster as it dawns on her. He's left wondering in the room as she takes another quick detour to the bathroom. Coming back, she's holding an opened colorful package in her hand. "Stay strong... but if I can't get you back really soon, you will need these." She says in an empathetic voice, giving the thing to him.

It's pads.

"Oh." Okay. He kind of didn't even think about this aspect of the issue. And now that he did... he'd prefer to forget about it altogether. All he can think of are worst case scenarios.

Seeing the disgruntled expression of internal panic and how he's standing there frozen, Kat decides to enter Extra Personal mode. Time to be unnecessarily honest with a near total stranger, today with some weighty reasons to boot. Leaning onto a knee with one hand so she's about eye to eye with her own body, and lightly putting another on his shoulder, she speaks up:

"Law, a little heart-to-heart, if you please... while we are alone, okay?" She seems to have his attention, there's nothing more to ask for. She takes a deep breath, looking for a starting point. "First things first, the PMS business... I rarely have bad cramps, so you probably won't have to drug yourself into oblivion, and even if it really was _that_ bad, I'd rather you asked me about my usual method first. Then, the first two or three days are a _literal bloodbath_. The sludge does feel really fucking weird, and often uncomfortable, and it's still like that twelve years down the road, so it will probably hit you harder. Pad accidents where the thing doesn't quite align with the goo just... happen sometimes. Don't sweat it, proceed as if the stains just didn't exist until you can change. Any of this bullshit can easily ruin your day- needing more space or being clingy on them days is a-ok. Keep hydrated, eat sweets if you need to, and change these bad boys every few hours to minimize feeling gross," she finishes, tapping the near-full package. "How-to is included on the wrapping. Any questions?"

"Nope." None he can think of. She said everything he could ever need, some of which he was well aware of anyway. The detailed rundown and comfort on his shoulder did help make the likely extra ordeal seem less intimidating, though.

"Okay... if you need anything, ask me or any of the girls, really." So far, so good. She wants to address something else, too, however. "Now... let's talk about another thing that seems to be bugging you. Please, just be honest here... do I appear to be the bigger person about... all of this?"

He's certain she doesn't actually need him to confirm this. All this time, he's been as stiff as a board and was a brat about a short trip. There's little he can say to defend himself. Meanwhile she's been acting the same as before, with a dash of altering smug and aloof.

Yes, she does; this, he acknowledges with a nod.

"Alright... then, let me tell you this- you don't have to believe me, but listen... I know exactly how you feel. Like, I was late because I had to go to the toilet, right? And guess what, I needed my own ten minutes just back there before using the fucking thing. As soon as it will be bath time and it comes to stripping? I'll back out immediately and postpone it until who knows when. Except I shouldn't do that, because it's not my body to get smelly and gross, and you will also take care of mine. You as a doc have the advantage of being more desensitized towards naked people, but that's no excuse. Oh, and dare I say we do enter the 24-hour limit of me going to work, and I still have your body? I'll be _freaking the fuck out_. Won't get an ounce of sleep all night. I... I know I look as if I was over it with a shrug, but it's the calm before the storm. I'll be fucking dying in due time, even if I don't cross anybody who wants you dead." Having all the small worries that have been piling up out, she needs a minute to come to a coherent conclusion. He's waiting patiently. "We both are in a pickle here, so... let's not be afraid of kicking each other in the shin when necessary... and take care of each other, alright?" she says finally, straightening herself.

He can't help but let a lenient smile creep itself onto his face; her mixed personality of silly and earnest, even if not the best combination, is rather charming after all. Sounds like a plan, too. "You know... forget what I've said at the entrance. You actually are pretty good at pep talk once you get going."

It's her turn to blush while fidgeting with her fingers; "Heh... thanks."

He sighs- seeing himself act like that is not getting any less weird, though.

* * *

Believe it or not, next chapter we're leaving this goddamn house. Possibly 5ever, thank god.

Edit: rereading this, it felt too awkward even by my standards, so I revised it a little


	8. Let sleeping little shits lie

In the end, Law agrees to a stack of panties, if nothing else. It's... better not to experiment with the pads on anything else.

"Alright, we just need the bag now," she says rubbing her hands together, then steps outside with Law in tow. He figures it would be awkward to spend any more time in there anyway. Arriving at the scene, though... he's not sure if he should have absolutely seen this coming or be more surprised; he's kinda stuck in the middle.

"You were not lying when you said this was a dump."

The door opens only wide enough to let a person through, likely blocked by another huge box or furniture that are littering the sad scene otherwise. There's a narrow way to navigate through the cardboard boxes, all kinds of paper, and the odd piece of other junk. The taller towers in the curtained room are likely supported by a table or chair. A more "decorated" object in the single visible furthest corner covets the attention: an old, beaten wardrobe. Above a lost bug net and dusty straw hat hanging on the side, next the broken cuckoo clock, sits a poofy bag crown on the king of cardboard boxes, ruling above all other dead matter in this gloomy land.

"Well... that was quick. Anyway, the wall seems to be at a safe distance and the bags are not going anywhere, so... should I give this another try?" Kat asks while turning around to see him, raising her hands.

He has no objections and just shrugs. Then tucks her body's curly hair back. "Go for it, this is kind of what I wanted you to practice anyway. But," he points at her, "instead of snatching it from thin air, try to replace it with another object near the entrance."

She surveys the terrain, then decides on a nearly empty shoe box that, as far as she knows, is holding junk like pretty feathers or games with missing pieces. "Hmm... is it easier that way?" She muses before doing anything.

He scratches nonexistent sideburns. Then tucks the hair back once again as the motion has loosened it. "To me, at least, yes. It's how I learned to use it in the beginning- imagine a mark on both objects, then... do the thing." Leaning to the doorway, he can feel the locks creeping forward again for the umpteenth time. It was alright while standing in one spot, but he's been doing this frequently ever since donning the shirt; he either needs to come to terms with his right peripheral vision being blocked by a fuzzy dark blonde haze, or get something to keep it in place, because this is getting annoying.

"Alright..." After a moment of hesitation, she reaches out, and tries to recall the feeling form a few minutes ago... then, she snaps her hand around and the bag is already at an arm's reach, wobbling a little. She releases the air she's been holding for this. Taking a quick glimpse, the shoe box sitting nearby has also successfully carried out its coup, reigning as the new king of the Dump.

She peeks back at Law. He seems pleased enough- she grabs the bag. Just by touching, it becomes apparent that it's covered in grime... been years, after all. At least she stuffed it into another one. As for the object of interest, she's never seen any of these sturdy things die of old age, but she sure hopes the plastic hasn't become brittle.

There's an additional thin layer of paper coming along, though. She... scalped the boxes underneath the targets. Hmm. He's getting a hunch- she seemed hasty to dispel her not-room. And then there's the lots of unused stuff she's probably never going to need, second hand pants, wanting to drink something she doesn't like because of the expiration day drawing closer, and that bathroom comment he's trying really hard to forget about...

"Did you, by chance, try to keep the field of influence as compact as possible?"

She gives an elongated 'm-hm' after short consideration. As suspected, she's thrifty, if not stingy. Which will not do in this case. "Listen, I call my technique "room" for a reason, you know... it's fine to expand it as necessary. My body has enough stamina to engulf the entire port for... up to twenty minutes, depending on what you do with it, okay? No need to snap it off before you are done playing."

Upon hearing that, she looks rather bashful. "Oh, that... really sounds like a lot. I'll keep it in mind." She feels silly. Try to relax, Kat. It's an ever-available treat-yourself buffet as long as it's fueled. Was close enough, though, and nothing of importance broke. Think of that instead and try harder next time.

"Anyway," she continues, "I'm happy I put this thing into another bag before letting them rot up there." Holding the package up, the thick grey layer on top becomes obvious. The big one probably smells nifty inside, too, requiring a quick cleaning.

He sighs in agreement, fidgeting with an especially tenacious strand of hair that keeps falling down. "Indeed."

"..." she seems thoughtful looking at him, then turns her attention back to the room, putting the dirty bag down on the pile of decently fresh newspapers and magazines next to the door; then lifts her hands again towards the battered wardrobe.

He doesn't know what she has in mind, but decides against questioning her motives and watches her practice instead.

With a gentle lift of fingers, the hat on the side scrapes along the fake wood moving upwards, leaving a noticeable trail of collected dust behind. Moving her hand to the side, it leaves the side of the furniture entirely.

This is getting interesting to him; as clumsy as she has been with Shambles... using Takt is something she seems to have a natural talent for. Which is especially surprising if he considers that this technique is more energy-intensive than anything else he has beside Counter Shock and Gamma Knife, -which are on another level entirely,- that is to say, she's using something that's in contrast with her frugal ways.

The straw hat has successfully taken off- only, it has a string to it, and it seems to be tangled, or at least twisted around the coat hook the headgear had been sitting on. She grunts quietly, breaking the mute concentration, then makes a light grasping motion reminiscent of a cat enticed by a dangling toy with the hand that's not "holding" the hat; it starts spinning, but apparently in the wrong direction. Quick reconsideration, followed by a just as careful swatting motion... then another. She keeps her right with the object "in it" further and further away to keep the string tight until there's a visible hiccup signaling that the spin of said string is no more. Squinting, she lifts her left pointing finger, then moves it upwards; the end of the thread follows the motion. As soon as it's definitely safe to do so, the appendage is released and the target is motioned towards them with her right hand. She finishes it by tossing the hat over the last few steps worth of distance, catching it with glee.

Color him impressed.

"I think I found my favorite way to deal with this~" she sings, looking at him all excited.

"Too bad that it's the one you won't be able to use to fix our problem," he reminds her, killing her joy.

"Alright, alright... I'm off to aerosol the shit out of this bag," she grumbles, closing the door... then opening it again to snatch the bundle of bagception. She steps over to the bathroom.

"By the way," he starts with a smug grin, "excellent work back there."

She stops in her tracks, and turns back slowly. Her squint returns. As does a wobbly smile... so she can cover anger up, but can't handle compliments, huh. "... I've yet to receive a list of the people who want you dead, but I already know it's going to be a long one."

He shrugs with a smaller smile. "Fair enough." Then is met with the really dusty side of an old straw hat to the face.

Law is left coughing and rubbing eyes in the hallway as Kat leaves with both objects. Note to self: it's not below her to participate in the 'be a little shit' game. 'Fair enough,' indeed. As he's trying to pull himself together, he can hear rustling, then the spray being used next door, followed by something brush like and some hearty pats. She then sneezes... eventually, he also has to. Once. Twice.

"You either wash your face or I'm going full grandma on you," he hears her sigh all of a sudden while still trying to get something out of one eye.

"What?" He's not following; he peeks up with what he has.

Her answer is to lick her finger, then bring it closer to him really... slowly...

As soon as he realizes what she wants to do, he jumps. " _Woah,_ NO!" Seeing the cheeky smile, he already knows she's never gonna let him live this down. He coughs once more. "No... okay? I'm off. To wash." Shuffling by her towards the open entrance of the bathroom, he makes an addendum to his mental note- not only willing to be a little shit, but actively vindictive about it. Conclusion: _don't_.

Having his orifices and face clean again, he's almost afraid to peek out of the bathroom; he knows she's waiting right outside, the rustling of plastic stopped a few seconds ago and he has heard no steps since. Taking courage, he opens the door.

The first thing he sees is the now clean -and vaguely aerosol scented- straw hat being shoved under his nose. One can still make out the flower pattern on the faded light blue ribbon from up close.

"Here you go," she says. He doesn't seem to react, so she continues: "Should keep that haystack on my head under control, no? Also good enough for a temporal substitute, I hope."

"Um... thanks," he says finally, taking it from her. Donning it, he's still not sure what to make of this... her getting it for him specifically never crossed his mind. Nice of her, though.

"I went ahead and threw everything in this," she adds while picking up the big, white bag which still has quite some space to spare. "so... let's go, shall we?"

Law nods, fixing his new hat. How glorious it is indeed, not to be bothered by unyielding curls.


	9. It's like sitting in an oven

"You know... you made my bed, and this is probably rude of me to say," she muses while assessing the captain's cabin where she will apparently spend training time, which is to say, a _lot_ of time in the foreseeable future, "but... I have the greatest itch to tidy up this mess right now."

The desk, dresser, bed and bookshelves are doing fine, but anything below that... there's barely room to maneuver in there if the goal is to not step into anything. It's cluttered with all kinds of junk; clothes, maps and papers, a notebook, some of the thickest tomes she's ever seen, at least three chests, various surgical instruments -that better not be a syringe and scalpel poking out from behind that bag,- and just... dirt and dust everywhere, which are likely remnants of various herbs and powders he's fiddling around with down here. Because, no matter how stale the hot air is inside, there's just not enough "musty attic" to kill off the distinctive "consulting room" that engulfs the place; stepping inside was like hitting a solid wall made of heat and pharmacy. Law really ought to vent in here sometimes.

"Forget about that. Get rid of the bag and let's start already; we've wasted tons of time," is all he has to say to that while making some room himself by kicking some stuff to the side.

She sighs and drops the bag of clothes on his bed. Of which she's a little jealous of because of its size. Doing so, she spots another shiny item at the corner of said object.

"Oh, 10 Belly..." she murmurs once having it in her hand. Flipping it around, it seems a little unusual. "Hey, I have one of these lying around, too" she says once realizing that it's a rather unique one from about three years ago. No idea what kind of anniversary it was anymore, but the tail got a fancy makeover.

Taking interest in her statement, he stops fiddling around with what it seems to be wooden building blocks and takes a look himself.

"Ah," he says with the realization, taking it from her; "must have fallen off the case."

With that, he squats down and lifts a small blanket off a suitcase that has some more change lying on it. Picking them all up and opening the object reveals... at least a hundred, -but rather twice as many with some pockets hidden from view,- coins and bills, and just by seeing some examples of the latter, they all seem to be unusual.

She crouches down next to him to take a better look. "... you... collect these?"

"As you can see? Yes." he answers, slipping them each behind likely home made leather strip pockets. Getting to the last one, which is the coin she jut found, he takes an identical piece out for comparison's sake; the one he held in his hand seems to be in a worse shape, so he puts the coin he just took out back where it came from and tries to put the other in a nonexistent pocket. Goddamn lady jeans.

Concise summary of Kat: "Nerd."

"I'm no nerd," he assures her, downing the coin in an actual pocket at last.

"Not to be that person, Law, but the only thing nerdier than a surgeon collecting commemorative money in his underwater dungeon is the guy in speedo building gigantic robots next door and being really enthusiastic about it." Having said that and seeing his unimpressed expression, she pulls a nonchalant shrug.

He's just rolling his eyes at that.

"You act as if I just ate the last cookie in your jar," she sighs, shaking her head, then stands up. "Being nerdy is not a bad thing, you nerd." Turning around, she decides to see what he's been meddling with on the dresser.

"Are you saying this because you are a nerd, too?" he asks, also getting back onto his feet.

"Darn straight I am," she informs him, turning back with two finger guns before walking backwards to her current stop.

"..." Should have expected a similar answer by now. He's not even mad, neither at her, or himself.

She leans onto the piece of furniture to survey what's there. What appeared to be building blocks from afar seem to be small wooden boxes with tiny hook locks to make sure they stay closed; some almost too small for any use, others big enough to hold a thick necklace or so easily. Judging by the worn labels, he probably kept raw material for medication in them; likely to be totally empty right now. There's also a couple of untouched note blocks and some other stuff that seems to be broken, plus tiny objects like a small syringe tube. "So... what exactly will be my task here?" she asks, drumming on the hard wood with her fingers. Doing that she notes that he also should wipe the surface; the fingers of her right hand are now covered in more or less fine dust.

"First, you'll just try and switch around stuff from one of these," he pulls a note block to one end of the surface, "to another." Putting another block of paper notes in front of her, he places a pocket watch that hasn't ticked for who knows how long on top.

Simple enough; cannot cause too much harm to the paper, either. "... and this until I don't make see-through paper, then some more?"

"Exactly," he nods.

She sighs. Monotony is one of her greatest enemies... it shouldn't take _that_ long to get it right, though? _Right...?_

Not quite. After about 5 hours of fooling around, she's sitting on his bed opposing the chest of drawers, resting her head on an elbow. She's managed to bore herself to nirvana next to the insufferable heat and low buzzing of the submarine and not even think of what she's supposed to do while swatting the pocket watch around, doing the same thing, and making the same mistake, over and over. Sometimes she takes the other hand to lean on and continues like that; the occasional other thought that surfaces is of what to draw or paint next time she's free. Which feels like a time that will never come. The upper sections of the unruly paper blocks must be minutes away from getting ground into the finest powder by now; she managed not to decimate shit about thrice. That's where the counter was two hours ago at least, before she gave up on life.

Law, meanwhile, has been reading a book at his desk; a bit earlier he stopped and started writing something rather furiously. Even before he left for those and just watched her, he didn't say a thing. It's been really quiet, which is usually nice, but under these circumstances she'd rather have at least more background noise than the occasional page turn, deep breath, and the hum of... whatever is nearby, probably an engine.

As the gears in her head start turning again a bit while thinking about this, he puts his pen down, sorts the paper sheets, then stands up. Crossing the gap between her and the target practice for the first time works like a magic charm, and she snaps out of her coma enough to stop doing what she's been told a while ago. Words are yet to be an option, but her moan is enough of a question to him.

"Going out to eat," he informs her while picking up his hat that she has put down next to her ages ago. Before he leaves, he stops in the doorway to turn back to her, which brings some much needed fresh(er) air: "Are you not hungry? It's half past two."

She grumbles, rubbing her eyes. "Will be fine till a late brunch... slash dinner." This power practice business has been rather taxing now that she's regained control over her senses.

"Alright, will be back soon. Try not to slack off too much." With that, he closes the door and she's left alone.

The second she cannot hear the clanking of the stairs, she leans back onto the bed. This sucks. Goddamn. There's no progress, either; she has probably more problems other than energy management, but hell if she has the slightest idea what it may be.

She looks to the side with the view to the sea; there is only a few schools of really tiny fish to be seen. More interesting is the wobbly book pile next to the bed, and especially the one that slid its way onto it. She reaches out to grab that one.

A book on the respiratory system. Wild. She flips through it; as expected, there are some illustrations inside. Including stuff like blackened lungs and cancer, how to cut open one's throat in an emergency, cysts, thrombosis and other lovely ailments; one of the first ones is an overview of the human body, though, with the skeleton, muscles, and skin in six images. She stops there to get a better look; been a while since she's seen any of these, might as well revise a bit.

Memorizing where the humeral muscles connect and how the shoulder blade looks again, the book is getting really heavy while holding it above. She starts lowering it ever so slightly, until it finally hits her temples; at this point, it's impossible to read. Or even see anything. Everything else is also rather hard right now; she doesn't feel like moving and just lets the book slip down her head. The pages are nice and cool, the room is still unnecessarily warm. At least she's used enough to the air to be unable to smell the antiseptic anymore. She could use some more lighting, it's rather dark in here... book with lighter half still on her head notwithstanding. If she had the willpower to stand up, she'd look for another switch. But she doesn't, and makes the mistake of closing her eyes for more than a moment.

Law enters again ten minutes later, and immediately sighs in resignation. He should have known...

Stepping over, he takes the book off his-her face. He considers waking her, but if she's done in enough to fall asleep, that wouldn't be of benefit anyway. It's not even much of a surprise; the power is not meant for extended use, after all, be it a small Room or a big one. Having said that, he checks on the book- he was looking at the case studies in the back last week, but what she could gather from any of this? A mystery.

Having no better idea, he leaves and kicks a bag into the doorway to let physics do its thing; the room has been needing more oxygen for an hour and now that he stepped inside, it's also been way too hot in there. Even for him. Or his temporal body. Thinking about it, the stuff he's wearing is rather thin, while his clothes on her... oh well. She really has all the rights to be knocked out. Should have done this earlier.

Stepping out of the submarine, he takes a deep breath. He hasn't come up since they arrived; it's nice and sunny with a breeze out. Being in the shadow of the Thousand Sunny makes it rather chilly, though, especially after the sauna inside; so he boards the allied ship instead. Leaning onto the railing, he can hear someone approach- it's Robin with her last cup of coffee for the day.

"Out alone? Where'd you leave little-big Miss Kat?" she inquires before sipping.

"KO'd herself on my bed while practicing as soon as I took my eyes off her," he says while enjoying the sunshine on his back.

She chuckles and puts the coffee and newspaper down on the nearby table. "She's an amusing girl."

"That she is." He sighs. Amusing is one way to put it; not a ditz, thankfully. Speaking of amusement, though, there was that word she said when she was ranting outside her house... what was it again... goddammit. "By the way, Nico-ya, do _you_ know what a... 'trogomite' or whatever is?"

He's never seen Robin laugh that hard before, and probably never will again.


	10. To kill a killer whale

_Fire._

That's the thought that yanks her out of the dream. Or rather nightmare... she cannot recall any other detail past the big building going up in flames, but she's certain there was nothing good about it otherwise, either. It was upsetting enough to make her sweat through the shirt she's had on, and something is burning in her chest. This has nothing to do with the fever dream, though- the sensation is very much real.

Sitting up while holding her left side, Kat takes a look around- she's still alone. Or, wait... no, the book lying on her head is gone. It's back to the pile where it originally should have been. Law is nowhere to be seen, however... seems like she passed out for a while, then. It's still light outside, though, so there's that.

She looks back at her practice station, but as soon as she considers returning to the drill it occurs to her that she's more hungry than anything. She stands up, and the piercing pain to the side makes her wince; the left lower arm also feels as if someone inserted a really long needle along the middle. Similar is the situation regarding her left shoulder. She couldn't have laid on them, either. Thinking back, though... apart from the shoulder, these were roughly the spots she noted stinging yesterday evening, after getting into Law's skin. She was fine all morning, though.

Weird.

Having taken a few steps, she notices the door being ajar, with a sturdy bag holding it in place. Probably woke up to the room cooling off a bit. Maybe. She tumbles back outside; by the time she steps out of the submarine, the stings in her chest become less apparent, until nothing but a little tension remain. As if nothing ever happened. Which is even weirder than the pangs out of the blue, but she's grateful for them being gone nonetheless.

As of outside, it's a lazy Sunday afternoon with no soul in sight. The days have yet to get cold, but since it nears winter on this autumn island, that might not be the case a few days down the road. In fact, the only things she's guaranteed to check in the daily newspaper she brings home from the cafe are crosswords, jokes, and the weather report. Tomorrow should be cloudy with some wind, she reminds herself. As she's pondering about that, a breeze blows against her damp clothes and heated body, giving her chills.

"Ah-hah, I knew my eyes weren't lying!" comes a high spirited call back from the doorway; turning around, she sees Shachi saluting playfully. "How's it going, Miss Kat?"

"Oh, hi," she yawns, rubbing her arms to fend off the cold feeling, flinching a little as she comes across the bruise from that morning. "Nothing spectacular. Came out to grab something to eat."

"Right, the... captain mentioned that you will come up later before he left not too long ago..." the man muses, holding his chin. "Won't you come down to the kitchen, then? There's red beans and rice," he informs her with a smile.

"Actually... why not," she ponders, then sighs. Stepping back towards the entrance, she also notes: "Asking Sanji for meals would get weird really fast, anyway."

"... can't argue with that," he says with the shadow of fear and worry on his face. Black Leg is not to be trifled with. He learned it the hard way. "Well then, this way, please," he instructs her, stepping to the side.

"By the way, is it always so damn hot down here?" she asks while facing the warm draft coming from below as they trot down the way she just came from.

"Actually, no," he answers, beaming. "It usually depends on the weather while we are on the surface, then the water temperature including warm and cold streams once we submerge. It can get hot all of a sudden because of stuff like volcanic activities... or _really_ cold at great depths and around winter islands!" Having said that and remembering a few cases, he also shivers. "Both of those suck."

His enthusiasm draws a small smile to her face. "And it's also really dark, I assume," she muses.

"It... is, I guess," he continues a little calmer, "but there are not a lot of windows on board anyway, so after living here for a while, you don't even notice the difference between nighttime and underwater. Unless there's creepy deep sea fish passing them, which... happens. Ah, here we are," he says, stopping on the level with the doors she already assumed to be the dining hall when first coming down here, and opens the way for her.

Which he always does, and it's reached a point of making her a little uncomfortable. That should probably not be the case; it _is_ a place she's unfamiliar with, so it's alright, and she also holds doors even for total strangers when they are on their way to enter or leave the cafe. On the other hand, however... it's never the same person, over and over. Hell, even Sanji did this only once. Same for Penguin and Robin... with Shachi, however, she's long lost count.

Either way, she remains instinctively polite. "Thank you," she nods with a shy smile, stepping inside.

There are long tables along the walls, with benches covered in pillows running next to them; the opening to the kitchen lies halfway on the right side. Seems as if the place is also used as a kind of living room, since about half of the crew is inside playing games, talking, and of course eating. As soon as they notice who came in, every last eye zeroes in on her. Yep. This... is exactly what her severe anxiety needs right now, alright.

She waves with a nervous smile; some people welcome this with an amused one, and wave back. She also can hear a few of them say 'hi'. A second later, as she can hear the exit close behind her, Penguin pops up on her right; he's been likely idling around the table corner hidden by the door.

"Greetings, Miss Kat!"

If she wasn't hyper aware of literally everything happening around her right now, she would have jumped for sure. "Hi, Penguin," she squeaks.

"... are you okay?" he asks with some concern, ignoring Shachi poking him in the shoulder.

"Just a little nervous," she answers, vaguely distracted by their shenanigans and the other man's... pout, by the looks of it.

"Oh, I see," he continues more cheerfully, finally swatting his friend's hand away. "Well, no need to sweat it, really. Came to grab something to eat, did you?"

"Yeah," she breathes, accompanied by barely audible grumbling; the boys crack a smile upon hearing latter, to which she reacts with a blush. She's been peckish up till now, but the smell of food is getting to her.

"Alright, I'm not gonna hold you up," Penguin says suppressing a laugh, then shouts to one of his crewmates, a rather burly and tall guy who can just about be seen doing his thing in the kitchen; she's only seen him once. Very likely the cook on board.

"Hey, Fugu! Get another helping going, the captain's cuter half has arrived!"

Kat hides behind her hands. It's been years since she wanted to sink into a hole on the spot... guess it was time again. The embarrassment is almost bad enough to forget about the other problem, but she's quickly reminded of all the people witnessing the scene as some of them are laughing to themselves to the left. Someone also definitely went 'aww'. From the corner of her eye she can see Shachi attempting to kick Penguin in the shin in a silent brawl where he likely comes out victorious, as he's the one nudging her towards the kitchen a few seconds later.

"Okay, okay, let's get going," he states, basically shoving her forward with an especially high spirited Penguin walking after them. Having two people by her side who are on talking terms with her is reassuring, but not enough by far. Especially if they are like this.

By the time she manages to calm down somewhat, she's already being offered a plate of red beans and rice.

"Would you like a cup of coffee as well?" the man apparently called Fugu asks with a wide smile.

The gut reaction would be a 'no, thank you,' but.. she _is_ thirsty... and even if coffee is not her go-to solution, it will do for now. Her bottle of water down in Law's room can wait. Last time she took a sip it was already disgustingly warm, anyway.

"Um... yes, if it's no bother," she says in a barely audible voice, "with two spoons of sugar... and a little milk if... you have some."

"Alright," the huge man complies, preparing it as per request. She also gets a croissant.

"Oh, thank you," Kat mutters as she receives them on a tray. Behind her, she can hear Penguin break and whisper to Shachi; "I can't handle this, man... the captain never speaks in such an adorable voice."

She should probably just use this spoon on her plate to dig herself a nice, deep hole as soon as she's released from this hell.

After short consideration, she decides to sit at the doorway corner where Penguin popped out of, hoping she can eat mostly alone, then puts down the items with a shaky hand. They rattle at least three times each before settling safely on the table.

"You sure you alright? You _do_ look nervous," Shachi asks carefully as he slides to the corner on her right, likely raising an eyebrow under his sunglasses.

"Damn straight I am," she squeezes the sentence out, also taking place. There's a little disappointment on her part; she finds the two of them exhausting to talk to and would rather eat in peace... well, as much peace she can get under current circumstances.

He cracks a nervous smile himself and puts his hands up. "Relax, Kat... we won't bite."

"I know, but... it's like an old habit that really sucks... that I can't get rid of, you know?" She lets out a high-strung laugh, then takes a deep breath to try and calm herself. "I'm always a mess when drawing attention from too many people. And right now I'm not even... myself, goddammit."

"Oh... hm. Can't help with that, then, can we," he says scratching his head and leaning onto the table.

She eats the first few spoonfuls of her beans and rice share, which seems to be a little overboard concerning the amount. It tastes good, though, so she might finish it up, and not just to be polite.

Penguin seems to be done with his daily routine of being a mildly annoying flirt and steps to the exit while stretching a little. "Well... I'm off to finish up the shopping list for med supplies... see you around, guys!" he waves, then mouths something to Shachi, who gives him a thumbs up.

Wondering about that, she carefully peeks at the opposite side, where most people hang out; they returned paying more attention to their own little things, though she could swear that one of the guys also took a glance in her direction. All in all, though, she's basically left alone... with... Shachi.

… 'Good luck.'

That's what he said, wasn't it.

Her breath stops for a second as she swallows the last spoon's worth of food- stepped into this one for the umpteenth time, didn't she. Being aware of her neighbor's intentions brings some comfort, though; the new problem draws all of her attention and energy, so she can focus and calm down instead of being a shaking mess. Now... she knows from experience that just taking it without comments is not an option. Too many people interpret that as interest... 'take the spoon and dig yourself out of this rabbit hole while you can' is the name of the game.

He seems to be stuck on deciding where to start. Good, this gives her the opportunity to nip the incoming stressful stuff at the bud. Let's try and start with something basic.

"If you also have something to do, feel free to do your thing," she speaks up after eating a little more. "I'll be fine now."

"Nah, we share tasks and I did most of our assigned work yesterday, Penguin will manage with the rest," he answers, perking up as soon a she speaks. "How's the training going, by the way?"

Alright, neutral enough. Let's keep the topic on this for the time being. "So-so... I really suck at popping stuff from one place to another. Which is apparently the thing I need to reverse this trickster bullshit? On the other hand..." she lifts her right hand, and the croissant lifts form the table. "This... easy as pie, somehow," she says, flinging it in a circle lasso style, then eats another spoonful of rice. Her little trick attracts an audience left unnoticed.

Judging by what she can see of his face, Shachi is beyond impressed. "Woah, good going... the captain uses this stuff rather sparingly, you know? At one point he said it's more draining, I think... and also concentration-heavy. Cannot possibly know how much truth there is to that, but I also never had a reason to question it," he shrugs.

"Oh... **that** explains a lot," she says with an exasperated sigh and a voice that's liquid venom, then drops the baked good back on the plate. Been a while since she's been pissed at herself- but of _course_ she can do _this_ , no problem. Seeing his questioning face, she continues in an annoyed tone: "All my damn life... I had the exact same problem: I solved stuff that was supposedly more complex with ease, while I made every. possible. mistake. when doing the easy exercises. Inorganic chemistry? Almost failed one year. Organic chemistry which others sucked at? Minimal effort, and fucking _fours_ , one after another... um... I think in most places that's called a grade B, if that sounds more familiar. Either way... I hate whenever this happens."

Getting worse grades in general because of that all the time ticked her off ever since she noticed it. Honestly, she has no idea how she passed the enrollment test to Wenna's college to this very day. Shoehorned herself into the middle of the scores somehow. Shit seemed too basic, yet she made it in. Was happy to make her ragged mother proud, if nothing else... then, as soon as she left one madhouse for another, it all just fell apart.

She reaches for the coffee and takes a big, angry gulp, then thanks whoever responsible for it not being scorching hot. Seeing Shachi being visibly intimidated and at a loss considering what to say, she remembers the current impasse she's at. No time to spiral into a mental breakdown right here... She takes a deep breath and blows the silence before the brewing storm away.

After he gets over the murderous glance directed toward the poor pastry and assumes she's calmed down, Shachi pulls himself together to dare a response. "That's... pretty cool, actually! I wish I was smart enough to not get the mundane stuff instead," he laughs.

"My little brother told me the same, and look where it has gotten me," she smiles halfheartedly, taking a smaller sip of caffeine. It's kind of a stretch, as he never put it like that, but also not untrue; the youngest of the family was indeed in awe of his big sister. Probably not anymore, but that's not the point of the statement.

"To a pretty island complex, surrounded by cool people? In my book they are cool, at least," he shrugs.

… honestly? She won't be able to stay mad at him. Putting the cup down, she rests her head on her left and gives his hat two little pats with the other hand. "You're not wrong, alright."

He's a little taken aback from the action, and starts scratching his neck with a sheepish smile across his face. "Heheh... either way, a smart and pretty girl like you really shouldn't bring herself down because of that!"

 _Shit..._ should have done that without a comment. The pat would have been condescending that way. Now she's gotta figure out something else.

"I also kinda like... that you are so open about things?" he shrugs. "Few people do that. Uh... hearing it in the captain's voice right now is weird, though, as he's rather reserved all of the time... but it's still nice."

He's gonna get a load of being open about things, alright. As Shachi is nervously fiddling with his fingers and she's staring into the unknown with furrowed brows, Kat could swear to hear a giggle from the side. Oh, right. The others are still here. Fuck it.

"Eh, I've gotten used to that already." At least she's found a tone where she doesn't make his vocal chords break all the time like some kid who just hit puberty.

"Like, the voice...? Isn't it weird, though? Having an entirely different body, I mean?" he asks in a lower voice, leaning in closer.

Kat considers the overall state of things as she picks the cup back up to sip some more. She glances over to the remaining little food; her hunger's pretty much gone and it must be cold by now. She'll have to pass on the rest, unfortunately. Anyway, where was she? Oh, right. Trying not to ignore her problem. "It's really not that big of a change," she concludes. "I need to watch my head and sometimes it's hard to guess what's appropriate to do, but... yeah, pretty much the same."

Shachi seems somewhat confused, but it takes him a little before he speaks his mind. "He sure is tall, so that makes sense. What exactly do you mean by 'appropriate', though?"

Walked right into the trap, he did.

"You know... things I'm unsure Law would be okay with. Like wearing his hat, which is a thing we have already settled, but there are millions of other things... Could I dig into his wardrobe if I needed something, for example? Should we let people hit on us in this state? May I go to the shops to buy girl stuff that I need at home? Buy that for him while he's in my body? Send him instead and hope he'll find the right thing? Am I to pay with my money, or his? Should I even attempt to use anything that belongs to him, including sword, books and wallet? His toothbrush? … okay, fuck, now I'm going to think about the toothbrush for the rest of the week... anyway, these things. Like how to handle a conflict... or a bath. You name it." One of these is purely rhetorical, being a decisive no to anyone who's been following. Catch the drift, knucklehead.

"Oh, the ba- haha, I didn't even think of that," he laughs nervously. The blush sticks out from underneath his glasses. "He just switches me and Penguin for a few hours when he's had it with our shenanigans... I couldn't imagine what I'd do if I were suddenly Ikkaku... or even Bepo for an indefinite amount of time..."

Or take the last bait, that works, too.

"You'd probably panic, then get to know the dumbest shit about each other as you try to figure things out." She sips, then thinks back to morning. "In my case, first thing that threw me off was how keen he is on having his goofy hat. Then, he collects coins... and hates bread because of overdosing himself who knows how far back. Oh, and even his underwear has your jolly roger plastered all over it... yet he denies being a nerd."

Shachi is officially uncomfortable, but does his best to keep up with her. "Oh, wow... it took us years to figure out why he put some pieces aside when going through his change. And I don't think he ever told us why he doesn't eat that stuff, either?" Getting to the end of the sentence, his thoughts visibly get sidetracked. He almost looks hurt. "We have been sailing with him for over a decade, but... man, you might know more about him in a few days than we do, huh?" he asks, forcing a smile back onto his face.

Okay, now he looks like a lost puppy. That won't do. "Hey, now, are you jealous?" she asks with no ill will. "I asked him straight questions and he gave me straight answers, more likely than not just to keep me focused. I'm not here to seduce your captain. I'd rather be home roasting pumpkins."

"Oh, no, no, like... he's kinda like that, keeping random personal things from us!" the man jumps, waving his hands in protest. "It's nothing new, we are used to it... and, uh, even if you wanted to seduce him, that's fine! Actually... it might be for the best, he's been stressed lately. I've yet to see him get openly interested in anyone, though, so maybe not..."

She blinks. "Really? Noone tried to ask him out, either?"

He gives his nose a scratch, signaling to her that he's actually thinking seriously about the question. "A few did. But his cold attitude is quite a turnoff for most of them. If you ask me, he's snappier when someone is actively chasing after him. It's rather hard for him to trust strangers, too, which is what others couldn't handle."

"I see..." Taking those points into consideration, it's not that big of a surprise. Well, she's also guilty of disliking people who are hitting on her straight away. Feeling him in that regard. Still, while he's not the conventionally attractive guy, he's handsome. And (in)famous. One would expect more interest. "Kind of baffling. He's a solid 8," she thinks aloud.

This seems to shake Shachi's serious business mode a bit. The hall is also dead silent. As in, more than before. "You think so?" he asks without thinking.

"Uh... yeah." Whoops. Reapply filter asap.

"That's the nicest thing I've heard anyone say about him lately," he laughs.

Kat sighs. Problem children, the lot of them.

"Well, feel free to give it a go? You are a kind person, he has a weak spot for those. He needs some peace of mind more than ever, with both us and the Straw Hats around."

She has to roll her eyes; now that he's totally distracted, he's trying to play wingman. On the other hand, the conversation turned into a fun one. Her fading annoyance also woke the shameless little devil inside, giving her an idea.

"Are you asking me to lay down the law?" She puts it a little slower, just to make sure the point gets across. Likely unnecessary with the smug face she has on.

He coughs a second later, both to keep himself from laughing and to hide his moderate embarrassment upon hearing that. Yep, he got the stupid joke. Judging by various other sounds in the room, others have too. She shouldn't be half as proud of it as she is, to be honest.

"Sorry for the shitty pun... anyway, I'll have to say no," she continues once having basked enough in the reactions around her. "Even if the temptation, as little there is, exists now. He can make rather funny faces when blindsided, after all."

The statement throws Shachi for a loop so much that he has to speak up. "Huh? Like, I'm not surprised, he can be intimidating... but how come?"

"Believe it or not, despite the inappropriate jokes, I've never been comfortable about being... touched? That's not the word I'm looking for, but... I don't like it, and prefer not to do it to others, either. I'm not straight enough for that shit, anyway. Or... gay enough...? Hmm. This situation is rather complicated, huh," she muses, scratching at her chin. This last thing is a question that actually might keep her awake in the dead of the night. She better forget about it as soon as possible. Oh, and also, time to cut the jig. It's long up.

"By the way, just so you know... the others have been eavesdropping for a while." She takes the last sip from her cup.

"Oh... really?" He's suddenly sweating bullets, and that's where the discussion comes to a merciful end, because the door opens and a smaller figure with frizzy hair enters the scene.

It's her card to freedom; though he's about five minutes late.

"Oh, Law! There you are~" she says with a lot of pep as she basically jumps from the table with the croissant in one hand. "Sorry for dozing off on you like that. I'm just about ready to continue." She can hear people snicker and the one female voice available, that is to say Ikkaku, whispering the word 'demolished'; looking back to the table, she can catch Shachi falling to his side as he remembers what he wanted to accomplish there in the fist place.

"I have been looking for you... what were you even doing here?" he asks, but judging by his quick assessment of the situation followed by squinting and a head shake, his question becomes a rhetoric one. He turns around without further ado and lets her out first; she waves a quick goodbye to his crew inside.

Kat can hear 'captain, that's not fair...' in a really low voice from under the table as they leave. She needs every ounce of self-restraint to keep the man's remaining dignity intact by not laughing out loud right there. Law does notice the magnanimous effort, though.

"Really though, what's with you?" he asks as they enter the stairway.

Kat takes some deep breaths, but smiles regardless. "Nothing, really. It's just... he's been trying to pick me up."

So he was right... he sighs. "Was it Shachi only, or did Penguin also participate?" Those two, he swears to god.

"As of today, Shachi only... but I should have decimated his expectations as soon as I compared him to my little brother and patted his head," she adds with lenience.

Law shakes his head, then chuckles at the mental image. "No mercy, eh? Anyway, you did well to do that," he notes. "Those two are incorrigible womanizers and have yet to learn their lesson." He can already hear the rumors of Shachi crying into his pillow tonight. Odd that Penguin wasn't on her case... then again, he likely kept his distance because of the swapped body deal. One less thing to worry about.

"Managed to derail the conversation after that, he didn't even notice until after you've arrived," she muses with a bigger smile as the innumerable layers of tension are shed by the dozen. "What really did him in was probably my 'I'm not straight enough for that shit' comment, though," she adds snickering. The guy wasn't even thinking about flirting at that point, but the smile freezing onto his face one last time... she should feel bad, but that was priceless.

He raises an eyebrow. "Oh?" That's new.

"Oh," she nods.

He's not going to pry here, one thing does bug him, though. "How did that even come up? Asking right away for a date or anything else is just... not what they do." Beating around the bush, that is their specialty. All in all, "What was the other topic?"

"Trust me when I say that you don't wanna know," she states giggling, then bites into her sweet croissant.

* * *

Alternative chapter title: Shachi nO

Anyway, I guess I'm by far not the only one who found themselves in a similar situation at one point in their lives... likely worse, because usually it is much, much worse. *shudders* And yes, this chapter is unusually long compared to the others... there was one (1) place to split, but... didn't want to waste too much time with this interlude, either, you feel me?


	11. A pain in the neck

The rest of the afternoon slips away unnoticed and Kat starts yawning with the darkness setting in. Those damn lamps on the wall make her think of the drowsy winter nights she spends sitting in her window. Also, it's still really hot in here.

Law has been sitting next to her after finishing up another sheet of paper and fiddling around with some stuff in the many drawers of his bureau. Which is rather annoying, because he's yet to say a fucking word. Combined with the stupid task and exhaustion, it's driving her crazy.

Kat's patience is at the end of its tether at last, which manifests itself in a series of quick finger snaps as the pocket watch flickers around. After the last one, the paper tower with the object on it tilts to the side and stops in a precarious angle.

"ARGH, that's it! I give up," she groans, flinging her arms into the air. The practice blocks follow the motion and stretch out alike to a harmonica; some of that paper is indeed just wood fibers and dust by now.

And he stays silent still.

"You really could try and help me out somehow, you know?" she grumbles to him, then decides to arrange the stuff in the suspended garbage towers so they remain more stable once reassembled.

"That's the thing... I can't help more," he sighs, leaning back on his arms. "I already said everything you'd need to know... you get a feeling for it and it happens, eventually. Didn't take that long for me."

"Well, then... riddle me what happens if it doesn't happen?" she asks, poking the ground paper out of the stack. It's kind of annoying this way around...

He shrugs, checking back on what she's doing. "We kidnap you, I guess."

She lifts her brow. Instead of getting rid of the garbage, she moves everything remotely intact to the side instead. Much better, and much easier. "Excuse me?"

"If you need more than two weeks to do it, we'll just take you with us," he states.

"Pfff, as if. Can't catch me, your legs are longer than mine," she scoffs as her fingers do dozens of minute movements and the layers settle in an orderly manner one by one, until the watch finishes it all. The paper block on the right is shorter than its pair now.

He can't quite suppress the laugh upon hearing that. "Touché." Having said that and returning attention to the settling scene as she drops the useless dust and shreds as-is, he sighs. "It really would be easier if it was possible with this technique... you are damn good at it for a beginner."

"It's just easier for me to think with... shapes, rather than space." Being done with practice, she leans forward to rest her head on her hands. "Betcha there exists a way to telekinesis intangible shit back to where it belongs."

"Good luck figuring it out," he says nonchalantly, then flops on the bed.

"Also done for today, huh?" she asks, peeking back towards him.

"Could barely sleep yesterday... and your body can't keep up, so yes, I'm done," is the reply. Then he lowers the hat, which he had on ever since going out to eat for god knows what reason, onto his eyes .

Kat yawns. "No wonder it can't handle it... honestly, do we have to sit in here for this? I'm dying from the heat... gonna catch a cold as soon as I leave."

"Hrm..." he grumbles, then pulls up one leg to loosen the shoelaces. "This is the only place where we definitely won't get disturbed, unfortunately. My crew can stay quiet for a few hours when told so, but," deepest sigh she's heard as of yet, "Nico-ya said Strawhat was already questioning where the hell I was... just imagine him crashing on us." He kicks off one shoe, then switches legs. "Nope."

Kat bobs her head in silent agreement. The other ship's captain was clingy enough at breakfast; needed to be reminded four times that she's not Law. "Fair enough." She pats his knee and stands up.

"Eight again tomorrow?" she asks, yawning again.

He grunts something that's a very likely yes; she gives a similar sound upon leaving the room, as a ways to say bye.

Having waddled her way up to the Thousand Sunny, -and being fast at that, too, because it's gotten cold outside,- she enters the girl's room again, where she's met with way too much brightness compared to the submarine.

"Holy fuck, if I was a vampire I would have disintegrated the moment I opened the door," she says, rubbing her eyes.

"You mean Torao is no vampire after all?" Nami asks to both Carrot's and Kat's amusement. Judging by the voices, they are sitting somewhere to the far left.

"Infiltration of water cave successful, lacking evidence as of yet," she plays on while running into one of the chairs with eyes squeezed shut. Carrot was already laughing harder at the answer, but her going mole has her in stitches; Nami has joined in, too. Can't see shit, but this is music to her ears.

"Apparently _I've_ become blind as a bat, though..." she continues while taking a quick, squinty blink at her surroundings. "Anyway, yet to see him leave at daylight without a hat on. Further investigation need- _ow!_ " That must have been the leg of the other chair she just rammed her foot into... goddamn.

"Do you guys actually need anything more than a nightlight for what you're doing?" she says, suppressing a hiss with moderate success.

"Nope, on my way," Nami says calming down; this is followed by a few knocks on the strip floor, then a click with the stinging brightness subduing. Finally, she can see again. Her eyes still kinda hurt, though.

"Thanks," Kat breathes in relief as she drops on her cover pile, then poofs the pillow a little.

"Tired?" asks the navigator while walking back to the vanity desk she's been sitting at.

"Yeah," she sighs, settling down. "Using this devil fruit is rather draining... not to mention that his room is as hot as a volcano. Though you've probably been around there already, no?"

"I've only been as deep as the dining room," is Nami's answer. "Carrot did help with something down there, though- right?" she asks, turning to the rabbit girl.

"Yeah, been to the engine-room once," comes the excited reply. "The motor itself is bigger than our submarine!" the mink adds, spreading out her arms to illustrate. The point of the original question is forgotten.

"Makes sense..." Kat muses. "It is a pretty big... shipmarine, after all." She yawns, then shudders upon hitting the cold blankets; her lair is chilly, which is unwelcome after the hours spent in the heat. Kat pulls the dedicated cover over her shoulder. Thinking about it, though... these guys also have a submarine? What?

"Should we leave you alone?" asks Nami, putting the hairbrush she's been fiddling with away. Carrot bounces to the closer end of the bed to check on Kat's cocoon.

"Nah, it's fine... I doubt it's all that late, anyway." She... really has no idea about the time. The sun went down around eight yesterday. It must be about one hour before her normal bedtime at worst... she's probably exhausted enough to fall asleep with people talking nearby regardless. And without lying sleeplessly for up to an hour before losing consciousness; that's why she makes sure to go to bed between 10 and 11 in the first place.

"Well," starts the redhead as she takes a look at the clock inside, "it's twenty past nine. You did go to sleep not much later yesterday."

Was about half an hour off... oh well. "I see... do what you like, then," she mumbles, already half-aware of her surroundings. The blankets are getting nice and warm.

"If you say so," sighs Carrot, already getting up. She surveys the corner pile for a few seconds, then turns back to Nami, flapping an ear. "Out cold like salad. Shall we check on the others and the thing they were excited about? That flier seemed interesting."

The other nods, and tiptoes out with the fuzzy girl in tow.

It's not until the 6am bell toll that Kat wakes, but there was little rest she could get. Like earlier in the afternoon, she has seen a legitimate nightmare. It kind of felt like any other really drawn-out dream with lots of running around, except those don't cause her to wake with every bit of hers shaking and sweating. They never do that. Instead of getting chased by a faceless anxiety monster that she shakes off over and over, getting lost in a magical labyrinth loaded with traps, or riding an unruly dinosaur through a never ending library, it was all just so... cold. Plain. And unnaturally unchanging, and depressing.

She doesn't know who the man in the feather coat was, but hell if she wanted him to leave.

Then, he did anyway... and there was fire again, and she woke in tears and with a lump in her throat. It took a few seconds until she noticed that the pain she felt while sleeping clung onto her and manifested itself back in reality, just like before. This time, however, it was not just her side- half of her body felt as if it was trying to murder her. The entire torso was either stiff or throbbing with pain, if not both, as was her left arm. A good portion of it didn't subdue within a few minutes, either. By the time Nami, Robin and Carrot woke up, most of the stiff, stabbing pain in her chest moved deep under her clavicle.

"Say, Kat... you don't look well at all," notes Nami in the doorway as they move out as the last ones. "Are you doing alright?"

"It's... nothing big, I just got up with the wrong foot; or shoulder. Guess sleeping like this has its downs, huh." Except she was lying on her right side and you can't do that with what's likely your internal organs... no idea what else it could be, though, except _maybe_ overheating. Which she's perfectly willing to blame. Damn, does she feel like shit, though... it's tolerable by now, but her ribcage and arm are still aching and this fact is apparently not subject to change. The next round in the sauna will be the icing on the cake. Although... she remembers the cooler weather that was promised for the day; based on what Shachi said about the temperatures, it might be bearable this time. She sure hopes so.

"Eugh..." Nami reacts as if she just felt a pang herself, pulling her neck in; "That's always bad... do you want a massage? Robin is really good at it, let's catch up with her."

"Really...? I don't know," Kat says, pondering. She should probably take on the offer, but it still doesn't feel right. "I guess... I'll pass for now... maybe in the afternoon? If it still hurts. It probably will, though... These tend to stay for a few days."

"You sure like to go for compromises," Nami sighs.

"Well..." Yeah, she does. She scratches her neck- a bad move that's immediately punished by a pang right above her shoulder blade. Her face twitches and she lets out a small moan. Alright, while she has a mystery torture service going on, she also may, in fact, have slept on her neck, because no other part of this bullshit reacts to movement.

"... painkiller?" asks Nami, raising a worried brow.

"Definitely down for that," she grumbles.

Shoving down one crescent roll (and Luffy away) at the table just to swallow the pill in an appropriate manner is quite a chore, though; normally she wouldn't eat a thing until at least 10, getting nauseous from the food otherwise. Which, surprise, she does; double the fun until the painkiller kicks in.

As she pretty much tiptoes down the metal stairs, -and resists the vague urge to throw up,- she decides to hum a tune. That usually distracts her from ills. Even helps with pain, as she's heard- inclined to believe that. At least she feels a bit better afterwards. Let's see... Drunken Sailor sounds fine. And is also kind of appropriate at the moment.

Humming along, she picks up a light echo of what she's doing and... wait a goddamn minute.

Going a little higher or deeper... everything sounds just fine with minimal effort. Kat's steps pick up pace, and she practically kicks the door onto Law, ignoring the extra neck pain it comes with.

" **You!** " she shouts basically as it slams open. Law's heart attack counter: 2. "You can sing," she whispers with leery eyes.

The look of utter terror creeps onto the face of the man as he gets over the initial shock. A face she soon can't resist laughing at.

"Oh my god," Kat starts as soon as she cannot keep herself from cackling anymore, the vibrations of which release another chain reaction of stabs in her shoulder. Can't decide which sensation the tears are caused by. "is... is this *cough* your most closely guarded secret, or what, because... your, _hhhh-_ owowow... your _face_ , man...!" she slowly collapses into a squat of joyful misery.

"First of all," he stammers in angry embarrassment, "you better keep this to yourself...!" She looks back up at him. Didn't know her face was capable of getting that red, whether it was from anger or shame.

All in all, a bad move as she needs to laugh harder, which... really is more painful than anything else. A little pain in the abdomen reappears, too, though it may just be the regular stomach ache caused by laughing too much. She hisses and squeezes her locked hands to redirect attention. This would be more effective if the left hand would still hurt... but that's one of the parts where the pain started to subdue by now.

Taking note of her display of anguish, Law sheds every additional emotion and puts on his usual serious demeanor. "... what's the matter?"

"Slept on my neck," she whimpers. Sticking to this half-truth for now; the stuff she just took should care of the rest, anyway. "Asked for some painkillers already, though."

"... those probably won't do," Law states after short consideration, then turns back to beeline for his bureau.

"What do you mean?" Kat asks, peeking up carefully as to not strain any of the afflicted muscles. He's rooting around in the upper right drawer.

"Let it suffice... that my body has developed a resistance against weak agents," he says with more monotony than what she's gotten used to.

It seems he's especially crabby today. Regardless... that means he's drugging himself regularly. Why, though? It's... hmm. She puts a hand on her left shoulder where receptors demand attention from deep below the skin again. There's... an inkling. Sad thing, if true, regardless of cause.

A second later he picks up a little paper bag, shakes its sole content out, and crumples the rest. "You've eaten something, I assume?" he asks, stepping back up to her.

"Yep, ate a roll," she groans as he's helping out with the feat of standing up. "Which in turn also makes me wanna puke. I don't eat a thing so early for this very reason..." she breathes. Good news: the additional lingering pain in her chest disappeared after laughing. Bad news: some of the pain returned to her stomach, and she's got the faint feeling it has nothing to do with said activity. The averaging of it all ends in a 'vaguely better than before,' though.

"Not a good practice, but I see your point," he says, holding out the pill for her to catch.

"What part of me _is_ healthy or a good practice?" Kat asks, taking it with a big gulp of water from her cool bottle after he drops it into her palm. Speaking of cool water, the room is as warm as... a room in winter with a nice fire going, which must mean about ten grades less, thankfully. Then again, it's eight, not ten o'clock, so that's subject to change. Where was she again? Oh, right, health. "I'm a stick figure with zero stamina and atrocious circulation. And god knows what else has been flying under the radar."

Crossing his arms, Law takes a deep breath. "Your circulatory system is... not exactly good, I'll give you that. Blood pressure might as well belong to a corpse, as does the temperature in the end of your limbs because of that. The fact that your joints crack frequently is enhanced by that and insufficient exercise. Get someone to treat them or you'll face quite a few painful problems in a decade or two. Then... ah, yes, the mucous membrane is a little more active than it ought to be, but that's no issue. You also might wanna get -0.5 reading glasses, brush your teeth more often if you don't want to visit the dentist in a few months, and honestly? Stop scratching your neck and shoulders, it's full of scabs and wounds which could get ugly infections in harder to reach places." He sure did just say that without thinking and in one go. Having finished the monologue, he looks back up and considers quick whether he left out something. "I found nothing else when I did the checkup."

"Uh..." She's not sure how to react here. Won't be able to stop the scratching just like that, and she's aware of the toothbrush- god, why the toothbrush again?!,- problem. Now she has motivation to keep it in mind, too. Either way, Law did just spare her a long overdue trip to the local doctor. "Thanks?"

"No need to," he nods.

"What's up with you, though? You are being so... tense. Even more than exactly 24 hours ago." She tries to keep him in sight as she carefully cramp-walks her way to her semi-official bed seat for training.

Hearing that, he... Kat's not sure how to describe the reaction. There's definitely a nervous, if not shameful streak to it, though. "Nothing you should concern yourself about."

Okkkay... he's definitely hiding something. It's likely nothing she has any stakes in, though, so... leave lying dog(tor)s be.

Having settled down with minimal pain at last, the still higher than average heat gets noticeable. She pulls at the shirt to get some air going. Raising the cloth, though... it's almost stuck to her. Gross. Oh bother...

"By the by... I feel... it's time I asked for fresh clothes?" Kat would love to punch herself for feeling bothersome, but it hurts her trapezious muscle just to think about it. It's not as if she also gave half of her wardrobe away, or anything...

"Oh... sure," he responds with a little delay, shaking off the unknown shadow that's been looming over him. "The chest of drawers should have anything you need at the moment, pick what you like," he says then, pointing to her temporal working station.

She sighs... getting up again? _Ugh._ "Alright..." Will need a bath before changing, though. That will be fun- especially with all this soreness. The pill should start working in about half a hour... until who knows when. Will need to time it all. Or... wait a sec. Can't she just...

"Is something the matter?" asks Law as the epiphany hits her.

"I just realized that I won't have to bother getting up the traditional way," she says, lifting a finger; with that, she rises from the bed, then adjusts the angle and stretches out her legs to meet the floor again. Unfortunately, the wooziness is heightened by the action; she's not doing that again until the crescent roll in her stomach is gone.

"That you did," Law notes with a half-smile.

"It's... kinda different, though," she notes, stepping forward to the piece of furniture. "I moved stuff... relative to myself thus far, I mean." Crouch down... slowly...

"It _is_ really disorienting when you multitask, so generally I just don't bother. Neither with this circus act, nor relocating myself. Though, that one is a useful strategical tool so I'll do it in a pinch." He joins her in front of the messy desk-wannabe, pulling out a small drawer over her head, then drops fresh underwear on latter.

Oooh... "You sayin' there's built-in teleport?" she peeks up to him from beyond the drawer again in wonderment, which is punished by another stab at the shoulder. As is reaching for the piece of clothing. Fuck.

"Yep." With that, he slams the drawer back in and sits onto the corner of the hard wood surface.

"... if I didn't suck at it and risk drowning in the ocean I'd sneak out to my house to shower right now," she sighs turning back more carefully, then picks a fresh t-shirt.

"... look at that. You just made me feel relieved about sucking badly at the skill we severely need, all because it guarantees that you wouldn't even attempt something foolish like that." Seeing how her body's legs don't reach the floor, he starts swinging them a little. When even was the last time he could sit on a piece of non-giant furniture and do this...?

"At your service," she smiles. Nudging the big drawer in, she slowly works the bottom one out to get the pants (that's what must be down there by rule of elimination, no?) she's missing. "Jokes aside, I've been sweating a lot and everything is sticking to me. On a sidenote, how often do you bathe, just to clear this up?"

Law scratches his head. When will questions like these just... end? Considering the state of affairs which he alone is responsible for, not any time soon. He sure hopes she won't mind him skipping every other day at least. Wouldn't be able to keep up a daily shower system. "I bathe up to four times a week if I need to... When there's nothing happening, it drops down to two."

"Okay... I'll just go for the average and keep up my usual three, then," she says while ascending at a leisure pace, aaand... successfully attained standing position.

"Sounds fair, will do the same," the man remarks. She's not that cleanly, thank god... speaking of which, though: "You might as well use the bathroom down here while this lasts."

"Down here?" she raises an eyebrow at him; the structure is not big enough for two bathrooms... she doesn't put it past him to have a secret door right in his room, though.

"The last door on the engine side, just past my room," he explains, swinging his legs a little more. "Was a random little pocket without function right below the showers, so... I had one installed," he shrugs.

Pff, that's so lazy. She bets noone's ever used it other than him. "Sounds like you're hogging the warm water to me... is that where you sing?" she asks with a sly smile as she leans against the piece of furniture, too.

"Oi," he snaps back, "keep it shut! How did you even notice?!"

Kat shrugs a tiny bit, too. "I sing myself now and then, duh. Was humming a song on the way down here and the staircase echo gave you away." As it happened, to a T.

Law sighs. That's just great; he sure hopes nobody was around to hear. "Either way, please, don't tell anyone. I get nagged about random bullshit all the time already, something like karaoke would be the cherry on the shitcake." Took him long enough to get Bepo, Shachi and Penguin to stay silent...

"... shy, huh?" she cocks her head. Considering her muscle problem, this could have been a terrible idea.

"The word is 'tired'," he corrects her, then leans on a hand all sullen.

Being responsible for a ship full of people would be really stressful, honestly. However... "I'd be inclined to believe you if it weren't for your reaction following my, um... 'entrance,'" she notes with a smaller smile.

Law sighs. "Get the fuck out and don't show yourself till clean," he grumbles while dropping off the dresser.

"Gladly~" Kat sings, making her way out.

She's about to wonder whether it would have been more sensible to sit out the day before, but then... then she sees the object in the back, which fits in no way whatsoever to everything else.

"Good lord, so extra," she snickers. The tap, mirror, towel rack, every object in the room is as puritan as it can get... then there's that fancy tub, which barely fits inside. Not a single millimeter between it and the walls surrounding it. He must have operated it in himself, quite literally. Because there's no way it fit through the entrance... has legs and everything, too.

Yep, there's no way anyone else comes in here, ever.

With a deep sigh, she drops the fresh clothes onto the chair. No time to laugh at him, she's... gotta do what she has to here.

"Wow... _this_ is a tattoo, alright..." she muses once (painfully...) having gotten rid of the brave double-drenched shirt that's served her thus far. A heart... or at least something in the shape of it. Kinda cute, actually. Taking a better look at it in the mirror, she also notices ones on his shoulders. He knows his theme; can't decide if he was trying to be edgy with it, though, because the cartoon shape is everything but threatening. 10 bucks on him having something on his back, too... this was not worth the neck pain, but yep, bullseye in the shape of a jolly roger.

Normally, she would be capable of wasting up to half an hour poking at herself in the mirror before and after taking a long-ass shower, but she can't feel at ease goofing off like this right now. Someone's waiting, she's at a foreign place, in a foreign body... would love to be at home right now. Preferably as her own self. Sigh. The people around here are too sociable, she has no time to recharge. At any rate... she had better pull herself together and just get over with the rest.

* * *

The up to 5 people who are following this may be asking why this chapter took so long in comparison? Well, apart from the tests this week, I started adding to scene fragments... and wrote at least two other chapters' worth of material. For way later. Kate pls. (aka tfw you have no idea what to insert between two much more planned-out scenes and leave the vague part rotting until further notice)

ps congratz VIP Guest for realizing the point of the dream stuff right away. like, with this chapter it's become way too obvious, but still, your message preceeded its publication by lightyears.


	12. ( ΦωΦ) (A hoonter must hoont)

All in all, while trying to make it quick, taking a shower took more time than she would have liked under these circumstances. By the time she decided against a bath and got into the tub, the pain was as good as gone, but the water did make her feel woozy, (she would compare it to feeling weak before getting sick,) she lingered on scars her fingers came across, and found out she could play around with the water like anything else. This cost an additional 10 minutes at least. Because staring straight forward or at the ceiling whenever not closing her eyes was a pain, she ended up levitating the shower head, too. Getting dry and clothed at last was quite a relief.

Stepping outside, the corridor almost feels cold to Kat. No wonder, with her using almost hot water, but this also means that the day was indeed going to be more pleasant in this hole, as speculated. She can see that the door to Law's room is ajar again. She's _so_ going to try and sneak up on him. Definitely shouldn't, but hey, gotta get rid of the common post-shower... buzz. Can't afford to do what she would normally, after all. Trying to be respectful here, and she's not about to ask for permission, either. Thus, she's doing the next best thing... the Cat's out on a hunt.

She tiptoes over and peeks inside; Law is sitting at his desk, reading something again. Looking down, she can see the same bag from yesterday. Unfortunately, this doesn't give her enough room to sneak in... his door creaks when almost entirely closed and somewhere after being half open. The current position could be within bounds of former. Hmm... what to do, what to do. Her thumb gets itchy; maybe she can get around with his powers? How to use them to get through the door... popping it off is a no-no, she's bad at it, and she also doesn't want to mutilate it. Though she could use that "cut into pieces and reassemble" thing, theoretically... not sure what the difference is, if there are any.

First things first, she puts a foot to the door so it stays put in case her plot is successful; cutting off a big enough part then keeping it afloat until she's done is the first step. Everything else should be a child's play, even with the minefield he has lying about on the floor. Now... how to actually cut it?

A few seconds of consideration lead Kat to the conclusion that she should put the entire thing under her influence. Done with that. Now, to tell this goddamn door to casually... split. She ends up releasing her invisible grip for the minute she spends thinking. In the room, she can hear a page being turned. She takes a good look at the surface, and the many lines that cross it akin to the pages of a book. Let's... try and "open" it? Area, ready; object, set; goal...

She needs to bite her lip to remain silent in victory as the material parts along the grain she's touching. Now, turn it around so it's out of the way... and not cross the lamplight. Half a success. She takes a peek towards him; apparently, he hasn't noticed a thing yet. She hopes this will stay so, the bigger hole makes for a faster change in air, after all. Kat steps inside while keeping the rest of the door static with her other hand, too. Quick consideration; reeling the thing back in with one hand could get iffy... talent or no, not risking that right now. She puts her foot back and lifts the heavy bag to the entrance instead. Now it's supported and she can just put the rest back. Please, work as intended... The operation comes to a quicker end than expected; the parts pretty much pop together again like weak magnets. Hoo hoo hoo, as if nothing ever happened~

She's about to sneak around the bed to the slow rhythm of the motor's burr when it occurs to her that she can cheat her way though. With her stomach having gotten over the unwanted breakfast, there's literally nothing against it. Let's try this in one breath.

Law, meanwhile, gets a tingly feeling on his nape. Something's off... and the thing off in this situation whispers into his ear a second later:

"Hey, Law~"

If Kat did not back up right away, he would have headbutted (or punched, because he did reflexively swat behind him) her in the face for sure. This jump earns child-like glee and giggles from her; Law's scare quickly turns into annoyance. Turning around, he can see she's still drifting mid-air like some astronaut. This woman...

"... if you keep these up, I'm so going to kill you."

She just sticks her tongue out and does a sommersault.

Luffy, he can see coming. Robin? She just decides not to pull his leg all the time. Kat, however... with his powers and this personality... the days he's going to spend with her when being a pesky gremlin (especially while on his painkillers, which may or may not contain traces of psychoactives) will be _long_.


	13. A modest home with or without goats

"... that's cheating, you know." Law took note of the lack of soft thuds and paper sizzles a few minutes ago; that's what made him check on her eventually, turning on his chair sideways.

Kat ignores the remark, and continues juggling the pocket watch mid-air as she teleports it above the other paper pile. Then does it again, and again. After a few more, she responds:

"You say that, but... I'm doing the same thing. Plus wannabe telekinesis, minus property damage. It's a win-win, if you ask me."

"While you are not wrong, it will also be impossible to tell when you get it right," he notes, leaning onto the back of the chair.

She shrugs. "Honestly, it doesn't make a difference until I can put my finger onto what's right whenever it works out in the first place." That, and she's also having more fun with this godforsaken task like this. She has no watch of her own and there's no clock in his room that she's aware of, but she's dang sure the bells rang for noon a while ago. Started doing this right after... a little surprised it took Law so long to notice the change, though.

"..." After some delay, Law sighs and gets up. "Well, do as you like. I'm off to eat lunch."

"I'll be going, too, then..." she muses. "As long as you're in the hall it's less likely that I run into Shachi. Would be... awkward after yesterday."

"That it would be," Law drawls with an amused expression. Having shoved the chair back in its place, he puts a hand under his chest.

"You really are hungry, huh?" Kat asks, ambling direction door herself.

"Guess so," he replies. "Even though I ate a bit more for breakfast than it would have been necessary for your size... also felt sick for a while. Guess that was your routine speaking."

"Duh," Kat rolls her eyes at that. "How were you not in that state yesterday before walk, anyway? Also... I'm surprised you are hungry again? My body is low maintenance, after all," she adds, wondering. He's had a proper breakfast, and she can get by easily with two mediocre meals a day plus some snacks...

"Yesterday I was wide awake as early as 4 am. I have the suspicion it's your blood pressure fucking you over with breakfast, now that I'm thinking about it," he says, donning his hat.

"I could see that. Either way... my 'wolf days' hit every other week and I downed a whole pizza, a big plate of soup and spaghetti the other day, so that..." She drifts off; there is one thing she sometimes mistakes for hunger or stomach ache, and that's... "Umm..."

"What is it?" he asks, noticing her vaguely worried expression.

"Actually... I don't think it's your stomach," she concludes. As Law takes some time to catch on, she adds "I mean the problem is more likely to be here," pointing at her lower abdomen. This could very well be her uterus making its usual ruckus.

Hearing that, he takes a deep breath and looks around with weary eyes. How conveniently he forgot about all that... first things first, the pads. God, where did he- or actually, she, even put that stuff?

Before he could start looking for the oversized bag, Kat has already lifted it and peeled the plastic skin off the bunch of clothes levitating in mid-air; the package they're looking for is poking out from right between the layers of shirts and hoodies. Law doesn't even need to move as she's done getting it and repackaging her clothes within a few seconds.

"Godspeed," she sighs, opening the door as he snatches the pads. Doing so she notes that her neck is getting antsy over such trivial tasks again. Oh well. As they part ways at the entrance, she shouts after him; "See you later, will be on the other ship today if I'm not back."

"Noted," he groans, picking up speed towards his private bathroom. Yep, hit the nail on the head.

Boarding the Thousand Sunny, she runs into quite a few of the crew hanging outside despite the cloudy day. Kat also can hear Franky and Zoro doing their thing somewhere unseen, too. It's quite chilly... she should get something warmer from one of those drawers.

"Hi, guys," she waves, looking out for Sanji while at it.

"Hi, Kat," is what the council of Usopp, Luffy, Carrot and Chopper say in unison while discussing something with quite some zeal at the railing. Nami and Robin, who seem to be on their way inside, wave back; without further ado, she joins them.

"Hey," she greets them again upon catching up. Nami just nods and hums as she's already engrossed in the fresh newspaper she's been holding.

"How's it going, Miss Kat?" asks the archeologist with a gentle smile on her face.

"Out on food hunt," she replies, also breaking into a smile. Seeing Robin being pleased has this... odd effect on her; it's almost as if she was proud of herself. A foreign feeling, but even if she thinks of it as undeserved, it's nice to have. "It feels rude to ask, but do you think I could join you guys today? I'm trying not to anger Law and things... have also gotten awkward on the other ship."

"Well, we've already finished... but if you'd like, we could ask Sanji for something and you can join us for dessert at the aquarium," she responds, sprouting an arm to hold the door for Nami, who sings a 'thank you~ '.

"That sounds great, actually." She does like the place quite a lot, after all.

Arriving at the seats, she stops and Nami plops down immediately, while Robin talks into a door on the middle of the pillar that's definitely part of the ship's main mast; Kat can hear Sanji's enthusiastic voice echo from inside. Whatever's going on, he's been waiting for her arrival.

"What is this?" she asks stepping up to the woman, pointing at the mechanism.

"A small elevator for snacks. Cute, isn't it?" Robin smiles.

"Can't argue with that." Practical, too... thinking about it, this is right under the kitchen. She peeks a little up the hole. "That's cool... stuff like this has always fascinated me, but I never really took the time to get into mechanics."

"You should ask Franky or Usopp, I'm sure they'd love someone listen to their rambling," she says, sitting onto a nearby chair. "You spend quite some time over here now, after all."

Kat hums; she's right. She could pick up some technical stuff from those two... even botany from Usopp, her mother has a green thumb, after all. Might as well hit up Brook for fencing lessons, she's always wanted to try her hand at that... Could even ask Chopper (or Law, to be honest) some questions about medicine and such, Sanji for some simple recipes while he's still calm around her... the possibilities on this ship are near limitless and so very tentative. The excitement over it tickles her heart.

She has to find the courage and energy to engage any of them, though. But she knows herself better than to wait for that.

On the other hand... "That's a pretty good idea... maybe you could also share some cool stuff I don't know about?" She has little to no qualms chatting with certain people who she finds just... always so easy to talk to.

A small glint appears in Robin's eyes. "And what is it that you would want me to tell you?"

Kat furrows her brows while thinking. "Hard to pick... you know basically everything there is to _know_ know, you know?" With that, she also sits down.

She laughs. "That's a stretch, but a flattering one."

Before she could continue, the mechanism next to them is put into motion and once the elevator hits their level, a muffled 'bon appétit, my fair ladies~' resounds through the shaft. Or just the floor... he must have been too much into it and made a pose facing away. Either way, that was damn fast.

Robin takes out two sets of cake slices and what appears to be cocktails and passes one of them over to Nami a bit farther away through some extra limbs.

Noticing that, she looks up from her newspaper. "Robin, you really didn't have to..."

She just smiles back at her, then returns her attention to Kat, who has carefully lifted out the glass of orange juice and a plate of what appears to be a dish consisting of a variation of mashed potatoes and some fish with dressing. The glass of white wine remains inside.

"You don't drink?"

"No. Well... at times I drink a cider in summer, and am willing to down a glass of champagne at New Year's, but that's about it," she says, rather eager to dig in; the food smells really nice. "I don't like the bitter taste of alcohol, nor its effects."

Robin leans onto an arm and watches her for a little bit, then hums. "Had some unfortunate experiences with it, I assume."

Kat swallows the food she's been shoveling inside. "Eh, that too, yeah." She's kinda thankful to her grandfather for trying to make her drink wine when she was about five years old. She's always hated bitter things, and that sealed the deal for a lifetime: one less alcoholic in the family.

"It's understandable. You know," the woman starts after taking a sip of the reddish drink, "how about you tell me about yourself a little first?"

"Oh... I... already talk too much about myself whenever I don't pay attention, though," she protests, settling her eyes on her plate.

Robin cuts a piece of cake, contemplating. "I've yet to hear one of your famous rants... Since you are unsure about what to talk about, it would make my job easier to decide where to start with this 'basically everything' I know, you know? How about this question instead: what kind of life would make you happy?"

Kat stuffs another spoonful of those delicious potatoes into her mouth. This sounds like a school assignment for children... not a terribly hard to answer one, either. "A simple one. With a small and comfortable place to live in, close to some settlement and next to the woods. I would earn enough to buy the food and drink I need, or the material for anything I'd like to draw or make. Maybe participate in fairs with my junk, and bake cookies for schools around some bigger holiday." She nods. That's the basics. "A library of my own... and some animals would be nice, too. Chickens, a cat... some goats, maybe." She's always found them rather charming. But she doesn't trust herself with taking care of anything, be it animals, children, or even plants, so it's all just fantasy. It wouldn't be so lonely with either, though. She wouldn't leave the house for human contact if she magically had everything at home that money could buy, after all. "All in all, just take up as little space I can... then disappear without a trace." With noone to mourn her. As if she never existed.

She hums with another piece of sweet dough in her mouth. Those were more the words of a disillusioned child than that of a budding young woman technically co-leading a successful little business. "Quite a romantic image. That's not a whole lot, though."

Looking back onto her near-empty plate, Kat takes a deep sigh. The air feels so heavy in her lungs. "It's not... that's why it always weirds me out when I think about it. That it's so little to wish for and yet seems unattainable, I mean." External and personal hurdles notwithstanding. What she has now is likely the closest she could ever get, and it's fine that way.

Robin takes another long sip from her drink. "True." Putting the glass down, she continues; "Would you like to see what kind of stuff I've dug up lately, then?"

The archeologist sees Kat's eyes light up before she gives some decisive and enthusiastic nods as the last remainders of her lunch interfere with a verbal answer. She smiles anew- children do love playthings, do they not?

"You'll love the panel painting and grail we've found hidden in a cave that turned out to be the entrance to an old burial place," Nami chips in as she walks over with the empty dishes in her hand and the haphazardly folded newspaper under her arm. "Nice stubble, by the way," she giggles before continuing her read, leaning against the counter behind Kat with one ear open.

Latter touches her face- welp, Nami's not wrong. Didn't seem to be that bad in the mirror and with soap on, but realizing how prickly she's gotten will annoy her on the long run. Will have to ask Law about that. Later. There's a much more exciting topic to pay attention to now.

"What are they like?" she asks, swinging the seat under her to the sides.

"They need a little restoration, but are fine and elaborate pieces from about three hundred years ago," Robin states. "Long missing pieces from a monastery in the West; we must have found the stash of some long dead thieves or pirates," the older woman sighs. "The actual graves were from a much earlier period than the artifacts, though, and still had human remains in them." She can't help but wonder what else may have been there before the savages disturbed the bones...

Kat is all ears while slurping her juice. Sometimes she thinks about giving up archeology as soon as she started learning about history- keeping track of all the numbers and dates she acknowledged she wouldn't be able to do, after all. Even that wouldn't have changed dropping out of college, though. Either way, she wants to see this.

"I'm so skipping the sucky training for this tomorrow," she states with enthusiasm to both of the girls' amusement.

* * *

Guess I'll just... keep writing parts that are unrelated to the current chapters... (we're close to a pretty big batch, though)


	14. Law did not sign up for this

"You'll have to wait until the afternoon, though," Robin informs her, which lowers Kat's excitement levels a bit. "We are planning to visit this winter fair opening in the city, we'll be out early."

"... OOOH," Kat says as the penny drops. She's kind of lost track of time while on her 'visit;' the streets must be littered with empty stands and decoration already. "Right... I forgot all about that..."

"You could join the fun, if you want to," Robin continues. "The boys are also going out if you don't feel like getting up at an ungodly hour. You could show them around."

"By which we mean it's better if someone keeps an eye on them," she can hear Nami chime in.

"They are trouble magnets in the first place, and I see there's quite some of that to be found in this country," she sighs, scanning a late page in her newspaper.

Kat's ears perk up upon hearing that. "There's local news?" She hops over to Nami to take a look herself.

The navigator hums, and tilts it a little so Kat can have a better look. "There's been an assassination attempt on an acclaimed author... and a bunch of people have disappeared in the past weeks from port towns across the country."

"Someone wants a good asskicking," she scoffs. "That Petrovits guy gets some shit for his topics, but is the best poet around. Hell, even I like the stuff I see from him, and I'm a fan of prose."

"Well, he's fine, so there's that."

Kat hums. "Have heard of the rumors of the missing people, though," she notes, looking at the rest of the page. "The first ones are from over two weeks ago... at that time people said it was some gang war thing in the capitol."

"And now it's unknown who's behind it, at least for the 32 remaining missed ones," Nami adds, lowering the bundle of paper again. She sighs. "There are even children among them..."

"Hm." Can't really add anything relevant here. Just then the door opens and shuts just as fast with Law arriving- and getting chills by the looks of it. No wonder, after spending a day or so inside the stuffy sub.

"How's it goin'?" Kat asks, turning towards him. She must be late... with all that gum flapping she's been doing it's not much of a surprise.

"Vaguely fake-hungry and probably bloody, hi," he responds a second later while dropping an obligatory greeting for the girls who return the gesture. He also seems to be uncomfortable. Can't blame him. "Could I speak to you for a sec in private?"

… okay, that's unexpected.

Nami and Robin sit down on the bench where they will probably not bother them, _although_ one can never be too sure with Robin around. Walking to the other side of the room, he scratches the top of his head. "These fucking cramps are not getting any better, goddammit..." he grumbles. There also might be a headache incoming.

She sighs. "Had to jinx it, didn't I... Is that what you wanted to talk about?"

He dismisses that with a flip of his hand. "No, I will survive. It's about something else, though related." Something that's been bugging him out of the blue for the past fifteen minutes at least. Dragging her back can wait as much, too.

"Shoot away."

"Is it common that your..." How is he going to put this without... well, saying anything that people may catch out of context and make fun of. "... reproductive system wants attention during this?"

She clicks her tongue a second later. Poor guy gets to experience the full program by the looks of it... "If you mean the non-pain related attention, then yes, it is. Really bad about twice a year, too."

Great. Well... at least he knows what to expect if this gets more drawn out. "Alright... and what do you do when this happens?"

This is such an exceptionally dumb question. Or maybe just denial speaking. Kat sighs... he's not gonna like what she's about to say. "What would _you_ do? Anyway, you can either leave it be and hope for a distraction... or take matters into your own hands, so to speak."

He needs a second. Did he understand her right? "Pardon?"

"I'm telling you... to touch yourself, Law," she states without a shred of doubt and nary a hint of shame. "Also helps with the cramps, for the record. And, uh, before you ask or lose sleep over it... don't worry, I've been restraining myself in our current situation."

Okay... okay. He's not sure where to start. First, he'll... do his best to ignore that last comment. Second, he's just taken aback at how she would just blurt out something like this. She's no prude, that's for sure. Or just trying to be helpful, which is... reassuring, if nothing else. Before long, he thinks into the biological aspect of her suggestion, too, and, well... a climax would release tension in the entire body, that is to say, there also would be no cramps. "I'll... have to refuse the advice, but still... why does your random commentary always make sense?"

She shrugs. Ouch; that's her shoulders being full-out sore again. "Anyway," she speaks up, "your choices are do, don't, and a pill against suicidal organ tantrum to get rid of that at least."

"Well put," Law groans while dragging both hands down his face. He has no energy for this. The day is easily the worst he's had for a while. Will not miss it once over; though, if he thinks about the potential horrors of tomorrow... god help him now, if ever.

"Try slow and steady breathing, that also helps," she says while stretching her shoulders, then sets out direction girls again.

"I'll try. Where are you going?"

"Making a request," she groans. She's going to try and avoid swallowing too much poison, so...

Arriving at the other two, Kat takes a deep breath. "Um... Robin...? I'm sorry for troubling you with this, but... could I ask you to help with my neck, please?" she starts; "I've slept on it and the painkiller has as good as stopped working by now..."

"Sure thing, Nami has already mentioned you might ask."

Her cushion neighbor makes a little reassuring gesture at Kat.

"Thanks a lot," she breathes with a sheepish smile.

"What was the matter that needed a private chat?" Robin asks as she plops down next to her.

"Menstruation," she points at Law who's just arrived, without thinking.

Nami is a little taken aback by the statement, saying nothing but a surprised little 'oh'. Robin doesn't miss a beat; "Get well soon," she says looking over to Law.

Kat did indeed just out him like that... "Could you _maybe_ not tell everyone? Thanks," he says with a stare that's two shades away from murder. Realizing this will take a while, he also crashes next to them with crossed arms.

"Sorry," she mumbles, then her breath hitches as she can feel hands being pressed against her shoulders.

"Where exactly does it hurt?" asks Robin as she receives the newspaper from Nami who's apparently done reading.

"Oh, it's... the upper part of the trapezius whe- _eep!_ " Kat squeals as the ghastly fingers touch the front of her shoulders, but she realizes that was just a reflex; Law's body seems to be less sensitive. "Um, never mind. Apparently I'm not ticklish right now..."

Robin giggles and she can also hear Law laughing under his breath.

"Anyway, what I wanted to say..." Kat says addressing him again, "is that you have temporary membership in the all girls club. Told you that you could ask anyone else about this stuff, too."

He just sighs. "If I wanted to discuss it with someone else, I would have done so."

"Kat is right, though," Nami says stretching a bit. "Being a cute girl is not easy, especially if you were not raised to be one. We'll help out, no problem."

He shakes his head. "Whatever."

After a couple of minutes of silence which is getting awkward (Nami's disappeared for a minute before coming back with a notice book she's now writing into, Robin's reading while kneading her back, Law's just... moping about, likely thinking about something), Kat is tempted to sing... which is a temptation she eventually gives into, but after the first few hummed tones she feels a finger in her side that's rewarded with another startled and unnecessary squeak.

"What are you getting jumpy for? I'm not ticklish," she can hear from her left. Kat's being given a look that says 'stop that' with some annoyance and maybe, just _maybe_ a smidgen of cocky delight mixed in.

Right, right, no singing... but: he's yet to complain about a lot of other things, with or without reason. "Yeah... _you_ are not ticklish," she smiles wide, turning towards him. Law is immediately alert and feels the room heat up around him; he's never understood the fight or flight instinct quite as well as in this very moment. He forgot all about the 'don't try to one-up her at being a little shit' rule. At least until he got his body back, because he can't possibly... run from himself... "But _I_ am~" she states with the most malicious face he's seen her pull thus far. He's ready to jump this train... if it weren't for an out-of place arm to his left to block his way. _Goddammit, Nico-ya._

"No, nO! Nhoho.. ahah... _shit...!_ " That last word was akin to a mouse's squeak... This is so unbecoming. Conclusion is, being ticklish sucks. He'll have to keep his two odd spots top secret with her around... or use it against her if needed.

Before he knows it, she's already released him, though. "Don't worry, I'm done... I don't like being tickled, either," Kat laughs, but his attention shifts to another wet and unpleasant issue which is reflected on his face.

"You... weren't lying when you said it would feel gross," he groans, lowering his hands back to his abdomen. The 'fake-hunger' has long entered 'definitely pain' territory, too, which has become more apparent after (forcibly) laughing for a bit. At least he forgot about the whole issue of being horny, so that's off the table.

"... Oh... sorry," she replies. He'd have to deal with it anyway, but still... that's no reason to be that down in itself. "Can't tell if it's because you're not used to it or it's being really severe, but this won't do," she adds a few seconds later, sighing.

Law just groans. He's thinking about getting something from his room, but he has no intention to knock himself out cold; he has literally nothing ready that wouldn't do that to a body that likely sees any kind of pill every blue moon. And sitting down to work out a fix in this state? Not today. Not asking Ikkaku, he'd never hear the end of it. He's tempted to ask what exactly Kat got from this ship in the morning, it might help... or ask Chopper for whatever he has for Nami and Robin, because good lord, if they also deal with _this_ on a daily basis without aid, he's beyond impressed. Wait, why is there ringing in his ears? Oh, to hell with all of this.

He can feel a warm hand on his back. "Hey... do you want to go down to your room?" The stimulus pats some awareness back into Law- it's not enough to get an answer out of him, though. It's too... hot in here.

She takes a deep sigh. "Alright, let's do this, then," she groans standing up, then flips him over in one fell swoop.

Robin puts the back of her hand on his temples, to which he frowns; her hand's rather cool and gives him the chills. On the other hand, while he wasn't exactly about to faint, this position is working wonders.

"A little too warm, are you not?" she asks thoughtfully.

"Definitely not just PMS," Kat states while crouching next to him. "Told you that the heat trap of yours would be trouble."

"Don't lecture me," he mumbles with a vague swat in her direction. He's not about to take her 'told-you-so', even if she's likely to be right. Dizziness, to his knowledge uncharacteristically strong cramps, and the rapid heartbeat that's getting back to normal by the minute... might as well be the signs of heat exhaustion. It's cooler than yesterday, but the aquarium kept this room cozy after all those sunny days. He'll need to be much more careful with her body.

"Should I call Chopper over?" asks Nami who's been eavesdropping since Kat avenged getting poked.

"Nah," he sighs. "I'll just need something to drink... and antispasmodic." Having said that he removes his hat that Robin knocked aside earlier. It also keeps him warm, after all. This comes with the unfortunate effect of glaring lights in his eyes, so he crosses his arms over his head.

"So you're saying that 'yes, we should get Chopper'," Kat remarks with a smug half-smile. From where he lies, it's almost as if her mouth was curved like a mink's.

This time he does hit her head with the rather aimless swat of the hat. She just snorts and takes it from him.

Nami's also laughing. "We won't need him, but I will go get the stuff for you. It will take a while until you actually feel better, though. Until then... hang in there."

"Legends said... that the hand of a boyfriend also works." Kat says spacing out, lifting one of hers. It's the closest thing they have right now.

"And, does it work?" asks Nami with a sly little smile.

"Dunno, never had one," is her honest response to that as she shrugs and puts the hat on. Then puts her hand on Law's stomach, to which he flinches.

"Hey," he groans. "no touching."

"Sssh, rest," she purrs, giving his-her tummy some light pats.

Law lets out a prolonged growl and thinks fuck it, he's just gonna wait these next few minutes out and then get back to the submarine. Also has his doubts regarding the effectiveness of the gesture, but he has to admit it doesn't feel terrible. He does wince every time Kat moves a finger, or thinks she moves a finger, anyway. All despite the fact that her expression tells of someone who's at least five layers deep in daydreams rather than potentially make the sudden decision to tickle him again.

Meanwhile Nami trotted outside, soon to return. Not alone, though.

"I followed the giggles of an angel and have been told it was in need of some refreshment~" Sanji sings as he flips inside with a glass of water after the navigator, who rolls her eyes with a lenient smile. In the very moment he sees Kat and Law (who might or might not have snorted at the development) next to the peacefully reading Robin, he remembers the small detail that seems to short circuit him whenever it surfaces. He seems to be almost over it after a few seconds, though. Slowly, but surely, he's getting there. Walking up to them, he coughs. "What's the matter?"

Kat looks over to Nami with a smile creeping onto her face. "Just some internal bleeding," she states with the most Law-like voice she can pull under the circumstances, then reaches and takes the glass with a hand without further commentary. The redhead grins wide as the intent dawns on her.

Sanji's composure? It never existed. Must be keeping it in the shirt that he's clutching now, close enough to nibble at it if he really wanted to. " _Internal bleeding?!_ Can it become deadly?!"

Good lord, he's either slow or... or someone educate this man. Someone who's not her.

"... Eventually, yeah." Kat doesn't even have to act deadpan here, she just is; she can feel Law shaking under her touch, too. Looking at him there's an unmistakable smile to be spied in the cover of his arms. There's a double sense of accomplishment. OK, enough dicking around.

"Sanji... every healthy person with a uterus bleeds sometimes," she drawls in her own tone before the cook could spiral down into a panic attack. He seems to have ascended (or rather descended...) to another plane upon hearing that. Then she turns back to Law, giving one last pat; "You get up, princess."

The only reason he does not swat her again is the glass of water in her hand that he kind of needs. He does give her a disgruntled look while taking it from her and downing half of it immediately, though. Then he murmurs a 'thanks' to Nami as he snatches the pill from her palm, finishing off the rest.

"Alright," he starts with unexpected vigor, "I'm fine enough to fuck off. Let's just... go already," he breathes then with fading enthusiasm as he stands up. As he's kind of tilting to the side, Kat stands up and grabs him by the shoulders, straightening him, though.

"Easy, there. Shitty circulation, remember?"

Oh, right. He kind of forgot about that, too. The colorful pulsating dots littering his vision are an ample reminder themselves, thank you very much. As they start fading a second or two later, he motions Kat to release him, to which she complies.

"Noted," he breathes. "Let's go, then. We've lost a lot of time here." With that, he's already near-running towards the door.

Robin sighs and shakes her head without looking up from her reading material; Nami reacts likewise.

"Welp," Kat says, looking back at them for a moment, "I better make sure he doesn't fall into the sea or breaks his neck on the stairs." With that, she also takes a hop direction door. "Bye, guys! And thanks a lot again, Robin! Life's already much more tolerable!"

"Gladly," the woman answers, turning pages with a smile. Nami waves goodbye as well while Katslips out into the overcast outdoors, sitting back down to continue writing whatever. Sanji's... kind of standing there still. She might have broken him in an entirely different way this time.

She does have to stop thinking about the blonde cook for a bit, though- someone with unmistakably rugged skin is grabbing at her arm... oh bother.

"Oi, there you are!" she hears the ever so cheerful voice of Luffy behind her. "Torao, check out the robot Franky made! It's beyond amazing! Chopper and Usopp helped make it! I'm sure you'll like it, too!"

Anything involving a combination of at least two of those names screams disaster. A beautiful, terrifying, horrifying, awe-inspiring disaster. Plus Luffy. She's almost curious to see what he'd deem as something Law would be interested in, honestly.

Catching the hard-to miss beaming of his partner-in-crime, her counterpart stops in his tracks. Kat can't see his face, but she can just _feel_ the eye roll. Anyway, she should make this quick, for everyone's sake.

"Sorry, Luffy, but I've got work to do."

… that pout, though. Positively adorable.

Law sighs, and takes a few steps back their direction. "Strawhat-ya... not now. She has to train."

"Huh? Why train, and why now? He's not weak," he states, squinting back at him as he crosses his arms.

If there's one thing Kat knows about Luffy apart from being vaguely obnoxious and generally nice, it's that logical tasks with abstract elements are sometimes just... a bit too much for him to handle.

"Luffy, this is Kat speaking. I gotta go back into Law's man cave so we can get back to normal and you can cling onto him like a koala again," she sighs, still holding onto a faint semblance of a smile. She has not nearly enough social energy left to deal with someone of Luffy's caliber right now. Neither does Law, by the looks of it. Can she abort this mission quicker, please?

"Oh, okay..." He seems kind of bummed, especially once he remembers the exact situation they are in right now. Then he returns to normal, though. "Hurry up and get strong fast, then! There's a bunch of stuff I wanna show you both before I forget about most of it!"

Well, at least he's aware of his problem.

"See you around!" With that, he's already gone, shooting off direction crow's nest.

Kat sighs with a less forced smile wondering for a moment whether the boys did their shenanigans up there of all places, then makes her way down; Law also shakes his head looking into the direction Luffy disappears in before following her. What a problem child.

Trotting down the metal staircase, and getting bored of the steps creaking, Law speaks up: "... can I ask you something?"

"Shoot away."

"Even if it has to do with me having your body... I get the feeling that you tolerate me more than the other men around here," he says. At least that seems to be the case. Penguin, Shachi, Sanji, Luffy... she's obviously tense and-or unresponsive around them, meanwhile she's been pretty damn friendly with the women from what he's seen. He actually feels kind of in the middle.

She takes a few seconds to respond. "Well... could be a factor, now that you mention it... but it's more about... how comfortable I'm around a person," she explains. "I can get pretty rude if there's no way to shake off unwanted attention. Chopper, maybe Usopp and you are as good of a company I can wish for most of the time... Every other guy that has bothered with me or vica versa kinda pisses me off or is plain too high maintenance, like Luffy. He's also really loud, which is something I avoid. Then, anyone actively hitting on me makes me hells of uncomfortable, so Sanji's the stuff of nightmares to me... and I also keep distance from people who drink a lot. Can't stand the odor in the first place." She sighs, scratching her head a bit, then turns to him. "Doesn't leave me with a lot of options here, does it?"

Easy enough to see her point; he nods to himself, satisfied with the answer. He's reminded of the other day when they were descending here together; "... I've actually been wondering why you even told me about Shachi... but it makes sense now." He takes a deep breath. Now that he's done thinking about this and the attention steers back to himself, the cramps are letting themselves known again. Up to half an hour... just up to 30 minutes, and it will be fine.

"Oh, yeah... I hear he's blue about that. Hope he gets better soon..." she says, thinking back to the breakfast banters on the Sunny, then holds the door for him as they arrive.

"For someone who butchered him without a second thought, you sure feel bad about it," he remarks as he plops down to his bureau. Indeed, he's heard quite a few rumors going around. They are hilarious.

"I actually do, Sir Snark." Tapping her cheek, she's reminded of a prickly business. "By the way, I need to shave. Care to tell me where I find the stuff?"

"Not now, you've managed to waste about two hours of today's precious time already. Get back on task," he states, counting down the pages in a bulky book.

Kat sighs. If she doesn't go shave right fucking now, when she remembers the task _and_ is up to it, it may not get done until he actually has his body back three months down the road or something like that. Looking like a caveman has its perks, but it also sounds hells of uncomfortable. And scratch-inducing; she moved onto her neck and shoulders lately, but the irritation would be more than tempting. She'd rather not ruin his face, too. Time for some serious measurements.

Law feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns towards Kat; what the hell does she want now? Instead of a question, however, he's met with a sensation similar to someone rubbing sandpaper against his face. Except it is, in fact, his face.

"What the hell was _that_ for?!" he asks, recoiling from the stubble that's both rough and vaguely... tickling, if that's a word. Which is, along with every derivation of it, one he doesn't want to hear again any time soon.

"The shaving kit, your prickliness," Kat repeats her request unfazed, and perfectly content with today's accomplishments. Apart from other small victories, she's also managed to visibly spook, amuse, _and_ embarrass the poker faced Law.

"... it's in the bathroom cabinet... top shelf," he mumbles, rubbing his baby face. She's pretty darn headstrong when she wants to be. "Need help?"

"I remember how it goes." She squints into the distance. "I think. Anyway, should be fine." That foamy stuff followed by razors, maybe twice, then washing your face. Plus aftershave. At least that's what her grandfather did. As far as she can remember.

"Try not to cut your throat or something similarly stupid," he moans then, returning to the book. "And make it quick."

"Will do~ be right back," with that, she skips out of the room.

Sliding the razor down with likely more care than it would be necessary halfway through the process, she stops for a second. If she wants to sneak out with the guys tomorrow, she might want to mix up her looks a bit, just to be on the safe side. After some consideration, she decides to get rid of the portion that's easiest to remove. Here goes nothing.

A few hours later, as she steps outside with a hoodie on her arm she just fished out of the chest of drawers (and which she hugs tight in the chilly evening), she's still pondering over Law not noticing the change. Then again, making rounds to the toilet or not, he was busy ignoring her after all the shenanigans she's pulled that day. So busy, in fact, that she could drop his earrings off into one of the many little boxes at her work station with ease. She has nearly everything she could think of. How long might it take for him tomorrow to notice she's not coming? Then finding her? He'll be so pissed...

Boarding the Thousand Sunny, she can hear familiar voices discussing some tech stuff nearby, which is just perfect. She jogs up to Franky and Usopp idling at the mast, then taps the back of the smaller man. "Hey, Usopp, do you guys have anything... to color hair?"

* * *

These chapters are just getting longer, ain't they... (End of semester has had half a foot up my ass, but apart from 2 short papers and one exam, I'm done for December. Sorry for taking a full month with this one, up to 10 people who are actually following these misadventures.) (Also was crushing really hard on The Witcher's Iorveth a few weeks back, which was a wee bit unfortunate. My head's been brimming with totally irrelevant medieval sceneries and storylines instead of my lame pirate husband, you feel me? Hopefully no more distractions of this kind until we are done, phew.)


	15. Chille Tid

Before Kat knows it, it's already morning. Had some good sleep this time: no pain, no fiery nightmare, or any other dreams, really. She also did not wake before time and crawled out of her pile just as the bell tower announced 7 o'clock- the girls, as suspected, were nowhere to be seen. Concerning her neck, she also had little qualms; Robin's magic was indeed otherworldly. Like, it wasn't perfect, but the few odd stings were nothing to write home about. If she ever wanted to, that is.

It takes her quite some time to get ready this time; she can hear the boys running about by 8 when she finishes up. Gotta pick up pace.

Yesterday evening she agreed with Usopp to meet up on deck and go together with Luffy, Carrot and Chopper. Something tells her that the mink dumped them in favor of the girls, though. She takes one last look at her handiwork and makes sure she has her purse that she stuffed with some bills back when she dragged Law home, then steps outside. She sees that she was right: no bunnies to be seen- and neither are reindeer, for the record. She can see why the leftover two are a little miffed.

"Wow! So that's why you asked for the paint..." Usopp cracks a smile. "You are taking the camouflage business seriously."

"Of course I do... all of you are famous, but this dumbass was basically the cover girl of the news for almost two years," she says pointing at her winking self, then flips the sunglasses on her head onto her nose.

"Oh, that's cool!" Luffy shouts with enthusiasm, running a lap around her to take it in in all its glory.

Usopp checks her out from where he stands and nods approvingly. "Pretty good, I have to say... wouldn't have known it was you if it weren't for my glasses. And paint."

It does take a more attentive eye to guess that she's strolling around in Trafalgar Law's body; all hair being carefully colored a dull whitish grey is the most prominent change. Could not get it actually white because it was too dark to begin with. Second obvious thing is that the earrings are missing. And... she also shaved the beard as-is. Oh, and there's that hoodie.

"Unfortunately his clothes are pretty much all the same... this one seemed a little off, that's why I took it," Kat says musing, then stretches out the fabric. The really dark blue base material has a slightly cartoonish, big polar bear sewn into the middle. "It kind of matches the hair, too," she smiles. The ensemble is as close to perfection as it can get with the current materials available to her. Minus the fake mole which she decided against, because of smudge danger.

"I still think he's going to kill you for the goatee," Usopp sighs.

She takes a deep sniff of the cool-ish morning air. "He'll try, that's for sure... By the time he's in this body again, it will have grown back, though."

"You are pretty pessimistic," he remarks with a lifted brow and a half-smile.

"I prefer to call it 'realistic,' but yeah, I don't think he'll get it back any time soon." Thinking about it, he should ask for it nicely, too. Anyway, that's worry for another day. "So, where do you guys want to begin?" she asks, stretching.

"I want to be where the party's at... and the meat!" Luffy states with confidence.

"We have no idea," Usopp sighs, stepping direction port. "Half of the stuff on the flier we didn't even understand. Any recommendations?"

"Honestly? No..." she says, pondering. The whole thing is rather bare-bones apart from the seasonal food one can get when too lazy to cook and bake. Oh, and there's concerts and such, but she never cared about that. "Actual parties won't be a thing until Friday. Though we could check out a few places that didn't change place in the past year...s..." Thinking about it, this is her third fair, that is to say, almost third year here. Damn, time sure goes fast, her counter's been stuck on two all this time. Her birthday's also not that far away... she'll probably forget about that as-is, though. Her boss will be the one to remind her, like last time. Yep.

"And, are those worth a visit?" Usopp asks upon stepping down the ladder as his captain just hops off to the shore.

Kat shrugs. "Guess so. Let's just tackle the whole shebang and see where we end up," she concludes, getting on the ladder herself.

As such, they just walk upwards the main street. Close to the ports is the cheap memorabilia stuff and tacky clothes. As she's looking around, a dark object catches her attention in the corner of a shop that sells oddly patterned shirts and sweaters. Oh. My god.

"You seeing what I'm seeing?" she pokes Usopp (who in turn grabs Luffy by the collar so he won't disappear from sight), pointing at the shop.

"Oooh, good eye," he notes also noticing the piece. Luffy also mumbles a 'nice' under his breath and is already stepping into that direction.

The one with that wonderful, wonderful black turtleneck with the ribcage print.

"It better fucking fit him," she sings, beelining for the object.

Five minutes later she's in an especially elated mood, and her clothes acquired an additional layer. Another ten minutes later, they finally move on from the shopkeeper girl who's quite obviously eyeing her all the time after peeling 7 new layers off of Luffy. (The garish hoodie with the bells was an absolute no. He could keep an especially hideous waistcoat with hedgehogs and red apples, though.) Normally, she would think thrice about buying anything, but having company makes it a hundred times easier to throw some money out of the window. She has more than enough by now anyway by saving on everything apart from food and the occasional art supplies. It's fun, too. It will be hella big on her once she has her own body, but A) she wants to see Law's reaction and B) owning a cheap piece of shit like this? Common sense.

She's especially happy about the extra insulation as the clear skies brought an especially cold morning. The first frost hangs onto some spots further away from the sea, though it quickly melts away as the shadows recede. Pondering about that, she bumps into Usopp.

"Welp, sorry."

"Say, Kat, who, or what, are _those_?" he asks with fascination and mild worry, glaring at some costumed people with vaguely goat-like masks and shaggy fur coats. Seems like she also missed Luffy running off to check them out for himself. He's already done, apparently, as he jogs back towards them. Seems like he got a piece of candy.

"Oh, those are bushoo. You'll see a lot more of these guys near the weekend... Anyway, it's the last week before fasting season and they play some role in the tradition."

Hearing that, he hums something that could be an 'aha'. "Fasting? No wonder people have a festival like this, then. What exactly are the scary costumes about, though?"

"The story is that they are here to spook winter away. Can't really say more, culture is not my department, so to say."

Usopp (and Luffy who's been eavesdropping for a second) cock their heads to the side.

"Scare winter _away_?" The sniper asks with pessimism in his voice.

"Isn't it just about to begin?" Luffy continues the train of thought, then flings the candy, along with wrapping, into his mouth.

"Well, yeah... over here, it is. But this archipelago is basically a climate rainbow, and we are on the opposite side to where the custom originates from," she explains to them, also tilting her head while trying to get the gears in her head responsible for school days going.

"Oh, so it's a mystery island! Cool!" With that, Luffy's attention is no more. Concerning the topic, that is; he immediately shoots off direction food and colorful stuff further ahead, wondering what those are about. His pocket money won't last for long.

Kat giggles. Usopp seems more interested in the deal, though.

"That sounds rather unique! At least this is the first island I've seen that has more seasons than usual..." Thinking along, Usopp seems to be taken aback by an idea. "Wait, this place doesn't have all 16 seasons of the Grand Line, right?!"

"Nnnope, only eight or nine, depending on who you ask. The middle parts are rather stable, so many count it as a unique one: it's never quite cold enough for it to be winter, or hot enough to be called summer... full of pensioners," she adds in a whisper, which he awards with a snicker. Coughing, she continues; "Anyway, from what I remember, there are two islands, a spring one in the North-West and another fall one in the South, which were originally aligned and the only ones here for a long time. Then, some volcanic bullshit went down and the others emerged. Horka here is the latter of the two, actually. The people on the spring island Slaka up North are just about done with winter."

He nods wisely. "I see, I see... Still, pretty impressive."

"Have you guys seen Sibenburg? That's the biggest one today, still growing... it's surrounded by active volcanoes," she continues, trailing off. The edge she grew up on had one semi-active volcano in the sea (plus another multimutant in the distance), but the Eastern mountains surrounded by a bunch of them is possibly the coolest place she's ever visited. Pretty hot and has awful air, though. At times one can smell the brimstone in the morning when there are Northern winds. Not missing her town aside, it's oddly comforting.

"Yeah, that's where we arrived first... I was almost disappointed when it turned out it's not some Hell's Gates type of deal, you know~ Either way, no wonder Nami has been taking her time as we sailed through here," he laughs, dropping the rugged adventurer facade.

"Ah, right... the log pose should have been set by now... six days in the north, eight over here, wasn't it?" No matter how she's looking at it, the time has long passed. Oh man, she better not be reason for them not setting sail... didn't even think about that.

"Dunno, she just tells us whenever we are about to leave. Because of him, though," he points at Luffy, who has ran over to a mask stand with pieces similar to the bushoo earlier, trying every piece on at a mirror, "I'm pretty sure we'll stay for the festivities. Nine times outta ten, he has the last say, unfortunately."

"I see," she mumbles with a lenient smile. That's quite a relief.

With that, she can also feel something else along with Usopp- and that's someone's hand swatting their bums. "Don't be so stiff, boys! Enjoy yourselves!" That's all the lady who's way above 50 and wearing half of a bushoo set shouts before disappearing into obscurity with a laugh. They can hear more slaps and some concerned shouts littering her way.

They look at each other.

"What. The hell." With a dot. Two of them. That's all she can muster.

"Was kinda hoping you had an explanation for that, too..." he responds.

"Actually... I've heard of her? But only as... the stuff of legends, you know?" she squeaks, trying to shake off the stiffness, looking back direction Luffy who's at the next booth ordering some tea. "Never expected to experience it firsthand, though."

"Joking is the best way to get over it, alright," Usopp sighs.

"Actually... I didn't meant to make a joke, but thanks for pointing it out," Kat laughs, stepping forward at last. "Let's also get some tea going, what do you say?"

* * *

First of all, have two links, one for a makeshift map, and one for how shitty Kat looks rn:

inexchangeforyoursoul DOT tumblr DOT com/post/167731415487/i-aint-no-cartographer-but-this-will-do-for

78 DOT media DOT tumblr DOT com/44e2f7b8fa37cf44a660820610ed06d2/tumblr_p17l8tVM0R1qly52ko1_540 DOT png

Drew those about a month ago lmao... I think too deep into shit. Anyway, if you excuse me, I'm back to studying history for tomorrow... and hoping that I'll get the next one out before the Eve.


	16. Definitely not a date

Getting tea is another small adventure for Kat, though, as two especially chatty girls try to get into a conversation with her. Which in itself isn't a problem, trying to get 'him' join a dance party in the evening on the other hand... was not something she would ever agree to. Not right now, nor at any other time, and _especially_ not with people who wanted to get in her pants. The other problem she soon faced in this pickle was that Usopp ran after Luffy who was getting way too much into the 'visit everything you can' spirit and disappeared somewhere down the line.

The sweet release came in the person of three other familiar faces, two of which were beyond amused, and one that bore a mixed expression of incredulousness, desperation, anger and disappointment.

"What- what did you...?!" is all that Law can manage after a minute of gawking at her. She could swear to see a tear in the corner of his eye. He's also dressed... tastefully, more than either of them are usually. Also definitely not his style. One of the girls had a hand in that; apparently they've returned to the ship already. All in all, Law's pretty; some guy, probably not the first to do so, has seemingly also taken notice of that and is eyeing him until Kat catches the man red-handed... or eyed, and quickly moves along.

"Sssh," she soothes him, squishing the cheeks of the man paralyzed by the sight of his defaced appearance. "It's washable, the beard will grow back, and your earrings are on the wardrobe... Cute headband, by the way. Nami's, right?" she adds, looking at the golden-brownish striped accessory. Kinda odd to see him outside without any of his stuff; also, she should get a similar headband. It suits her.

"It is," interrupts Penguin the scene which both him and Shachi, who is playing sword-bearer with Law's oversized piece strapped on his back somehow, find quite amusing by the looks of it. "The captain wouldn't stay put once he found out that you were out... Usopp told us you should be here."

"Usopp?" she perks up, looking at them with Law's frozen face still between her hands. "Did he manage to find Luffy?"

"Yeah, the dude found the fair games and had a whole barrel full of apples and water in his mouth when we left," laughs Shachi. "We should totally revisit that place later," he turns to Penguin, who gives a decisive nod as an answer.

"Actually," latter continues with just a wee bit too much artificial mulling as she releases Law from her grip, "since you've already been found, we aren't necessary here. You two can take care of yourselves," he states, nodding towards Shachi.

"I agree," his friend says, cracking a big smile and already stepping backwards. "Let's see what Straw Hat and Noseman are up to~"

By the time the sentence 'where the hell are you two going?!' gets formulated in Law's head as he's getting over the shock, the crowd has already swallowed them.

To Kat, this feels suspiciously like her Sunday afternoon adventure, except less bothersome or embarrassing, because her partner is just as unwilling as she is. Turning to Law, she sighs. "... do they do this to you often?" Or generally? Because she sees a trend here...

"Do wha-" the last bit gets lost as he sees her blinking at him with a face of fatigue and lament. She turns to the left, to the right, looking around with somewhat spread arms, then points them towards him. Then her. They are alone. _That's_ what she's talking about... It's his turn to sigh. Painfully. "Oh, for fuck's sake." They had to go and set up a 'date,' didn't they. This day is getting better by the minute.

"Took you long enough," Kat notes, then takes a careful sip of the cup of freshly prepared green tea that just got handed to her.

"In my defense, it's been... years since they last pulled a stunt like this." At least five, if not more.

"To be fair, though?" she turns back to him, stepping direction chestnut stand, "As long as I hang with you instead of the guys, I'm less likely to be flirted with, so... might as well play-pretend for the time being." It's gotten annoying, so as far as she's concerned, fake date: start.

"You _what_?" He squeaks in her voice, deciding to follow her for the time being. He's left with little breakfast and is tempted to get something right here after running around, and those two dumbasses will be fine, too. Although... Shachi had everything on him, including the money. Fuck.

"I'm sayin' you're popular, Law." After that, she frowns at the distance. "Some granny also slapped my butt," she recalls the old woman from about fifteen minutes ago, shivering. It's just as bad as random old men doing the same. What was she even, back then? Fourteen? People are so gross. At least that woman's not targeting children.

"Good lord..." Law is just as mortified by the thought as she is, if not more. Shaking the image off and peeking up at her, he continues; "... I know you are not lying because you would have cracked by now, but I still have a hard time believing you. It's... quite rare for anyone to just walk up to me."

"I'm telling you, there's been three plus-minus one women either staring or hitting me up. I guess... I make you look more attractive? Than you actually are?" she says, lifting a brow. That... just might be it. A handsome guy who's reserved, polite and just... legitimately nice? She'd be lowkey smitten as well. They stop at the end of the queue. "It also kinda applies to you and not-me," she ponders. With that, she takes another sip of the hot drink.

"I'm... not exactly following," Law admits after some delay. Especially the last part.

Let's try and put this into words for him... "Well... you can be quite a prick, you see- no offense. The very same quality also makes for a cute shrew, though; which you are, at the moment. That's all there is to it."

"Um..." He can't make head or tail of what she's trying to convey, so he's just going to ignore being called a... shrew. "Am well aware of the first point. Seen enough women who don't give a damn, though."

"Can't and won't argue with that, but it's not what I'm saying." Seeing there are still three people before them, she turns back to drop an unadulterated truth bomb on this poor, socially inept man who's somehow worse at this than her. Preferably in a low enough voice as to not scar anyone else listening for a lifetime. They've already heard more than enough. "The thing is the following, Law: while both of us have decent looks, I'm not peppy or feminine enough to be attractive to the average man, and you are too much of a deep-frozen salt crab to be perceived as a viable partner. This much you can follow with ease, right?"

He nods, although he would argue about being _that_ bitter. And quite frankly, she can be damn peppy when up to it.

"Okay, the catch is the following: we exchanged wrapping, and," here she naps her fingers, "all of a sudden, I'm 'hot' and you're 'cute' to people despite everything else being the same," she says, adding air quotation marks with her free hand. "I turned from puny buttercup into a bright sunflower while you blossomed into some brazen goth rose instead of the stinky corpse flower you like pretending to be. All because I'm a decent person with a hot male body, and you look like an underweight girl with an attitude that comes off like a crumbly butter cookie wanting to look tough. It's... some eldritch amalgamation of nonequivalent exchange... that makes us fit into an ideal for the other gender. And as such, people fucking _love it_." Having finished that, she flips the sunglasses back on; it's their turn and she asks for one medium bag of chestnuts.

Law scowls at the young, but dull vendor while thinking about what Kat said just as the other looks in his direction while shoving the goods into a paper bag, and is greeted with a sudden smile. And a wink. Glaring another way, he eventually settles on two young women who giggle and whisper to each other while looking into a direction that's very suspiciously where Kat is standing. Kat, who's smiling politely while paying, and who may or may not have called him her 'worse half' just now while talking to the guy whose question he's missed.

This is quickly getting worse than being stuck in a skirt.

"You alright?" she asks a few minutes later after leaving the stove behind. "Like, I understand if you need a minute to get over the way that dude looked at you..." And talked about him as if he wasn't right next to her... so double fuck that guy, she ain't noone's 'cutie,' even if it's only her body we're talking about.

"Please, don't remind me," he moans. They entered a less crowded section of the fair, and he still felt more people gawking at him than what's realistic.

"Chestnuts?" she asks, tilting the bag towards him. Maybe she should just... punch people who look at Law funnily. Sound plan... except she has no memories of ever punching anyone, so maybe not. It would be weird.

He sighs, remembering that he's gotten hungry, then gives the paper bag a suspicious look. His stomach growls, too- hopefully she didn't catch that. "... never had any, to be honest. Are they any good?"

"May not be down your alley, but can't know until you give it a try," she says, drinking some more tea. "Careful, though, I just picked one that was still hot."

While he's fiddling with the piece he fished out, she stops at another shop.

"... do you prefer cottage cheese and raisins, apple and raisins with cinnamon, pumpkin and poppy, or sour cherries and cinnamon?" she asks, pointing at the selection. He peeks up. Can't really tell what the food is in the first place apart from likely being something sweet. The sign says 'strudel'.

"Um..."

"You can just say no if you're not feeling adventurous," she says, nibbling on a chestnut after securing the bag with her arm. "There's also a kind of ribbon-like cake down the road with sugary coatings, if that sounds any better. We also could go looking for actual food like meat, but there's only overpriced delicacies out here and I'm not _that_ loaded."

He is not feeling adventurous, that's true; does feel embarrassment upon being found out, though. But... he's hungry, goddammit, and the stuff smells damn nice. Closing his eyes, he groans. "By rule of elimination... pumpkin and poppies." Latter is something he's also never had before. There is always hope that he won't hate it, though. Then again... explicitly _sugary_ pumpkin? Maybe he should reconsider...

A small smile appears on her face again. "Also not a fan of raisins, huh?"

"... yeah." He also has trouble imagining what apparently sweet cottage cheese could taste like.

Regardless, he's surprised to see her buy that kind for herself a minute later.

"Why'd you even get that?" he asks as Kat flicks one very obvious piece of raisin from the chunk of whatever she just bought.

"Because... it's my favorite, and fair food spares out the more expensive stuff from sweets, such as, guess what? Raisins~" With that, she takes a careful bite, checking for any additional suspicious brown dots before actually chewing.

He takes a tentative bit out of his piece. Not bad, though the texture is... something else. She pokes him in the shoulder to motion towards a bench. The surface is covered in dew, however.

Kat just lowers herself a bit and slides a leg across. Stuff is cold, but watcha gonna do.

"Hey, easy with my jeans!" he complains, also finally getting the chestnut piece open from one side.

"Washing machines still exist, princess." With that, she's already settled down, putting the lukewarm bag of chestnuts in her lap and the tea cup aside as she makes a real effort at eating her piece of sugary cottage cheese. "Sit down so its noble sacrifice won't go to waste."

He complies after short consideration. "... still rude."

"You admitted being rude a few minutes ago, too, so fine with me," she notes, already having devoured half of the thingamajig. She flicks it another few times to get rid of two more raisins.

Law meanwhile tries to ignore that the bench is rather cold... and that the current pad is about as wet as his pants would have been if Kat did not swipe off the water. He shivers.

"You cold?" she asks with a mouthful.

"Not really, but... I should have gone for something warmer regardless." And ignore Nami's meddling. He has no idea what her problem with his getup was. So what if the straw hat and hoodie clashed? And he can wear anything that tells people to fuck off in a roundabout way, thank you very much. Jesus.

"Oh, hey, that guy...!" Kat perks up as one of the bushoo turns up around the corner. This one has cerulean blue mask and horns, making it stand out from the other reddish and brown ones.

"What about him?" Law asks, chewing on this weird pastry that he cannot really decide to love or hate at this point. Which is weird, because usually he can immediately tell whether he loves or hates food. Also, what even _are_ those costumes?

"Nothing much, a nice old man who lives above the grocery shop opposite of us. He's always out on the festival around these parts, from start to finish. I hear he's had this self-made costume for decades... anyway, just say hi if he comes over, would you?" The man goes another direction, however, and is quickly distracted by a mother and her roughly 10-year-old son, both of whom Kat also knows. The lady is some kind of secretary and visits the cafe a lot with her kid, sometimes even husband. The cafe, which, well...

Kat turns around.

"What is it?" With that, Law crumples up the paper of the finished-up strudel.

"... checking how the renovation is doing," she says, surveying the grounds. Law also takes a peek over his left shoulder.

There are two more shops closed near to the obvious target of attention down the road; one of them is nearly past saving. He didn't notice it thus far, but they've come around to the spot where that odd situation started a week back by now. The Cafe called Kukari, which he hasn't even seen until now, is near untouched by comparison. Yes, some windows and a pillar have apparently been crushed, but latter is close to being done and the glass should not be much trouble afterwards. Well, there could be more work behind the paper covers, too. What does he know.

"Yep. If the place was still in one piece... I'd be working right now. In your body. Or you in mine, but let's be honest." She seems amused enough at the thought. Monday will be hell if she's still stuck in this body, though... explaining this situation... how? Kat sighs. "I wonder if Adam's in there... he basically lives in the damn place."

"Adam?" he slurs through the shell of the single chestnut he's been fiddling with, turning back around towards her.

"My boss," she mumbles. Suddenly she has her doubts about sitting here, especially with Law around. That could go all kinds of wrong. Adam, please be at home, or at least don't notice a thing. Thanks.

With that, she also faces forward and grabs the lukewarm cup of tea. Looking back at Law, she cocks her head. "You still not done with that?"

"You bought the sweets right as I was figuring it out, okay?" Honestly, he's annoyed with this. Especially because he apparently likes chestnuts and getting the thing out is a nightmare. As is getting rid of the bitter, hairy middle layer that he hates with comparable passion.

She cracks a smile upon seeing his efforts. "Honestly, some of them are just really stubborn, it's best to have a knife around for this," Kat muses, picking a few specific pieces from the bag. "Here, these should be easy enough."

With that, Law gets a hand full of chestnuts that are just about popping out of their hard little prisons. "Thanks."

As they are playing chipmunks (and making a mess of the spot as Law has no qualms about throwing the unnecessary bits onto the ground), they notice a light drizzle falling- a few seconds later, clouds dim out the already weak sunlight.

"Geez... haven't been able to keep up with the weather report," Kat starts, glaring into the grey puffs; "I sure hope there's no actual rain involved. We could go into an actual shop... or pay another visit to my house, it's about as far from here as it's from the ships," she muses while standing up at last and shoving the remainders of the still kind of warm chestnut bag into the hoodie's pocket.

"We're better off going straight back to the docks," he replies to that, still seated. "You will have managed to skip another two hours, if not more, by the time we get back to business. I'd really appreciate if you stopped doing this."

"Two hours ain't nothing," she states, crumpling the shell-filled paper and napkins of both her and Law's strudels, then wannabe-telepaths the bundle to the dustbin when noone's looking; her aim sucks, after all. "Anyway, I need to return the cup first, so we'll take the long way around," she says then, drinking the rest in big gulps, which she follows up with turning said object upside down. The murky leftover tea at the bottom lands with a negligible splash.

As Kat is waiting for him to pull himself together, she notices that the hair on his forearms sticks skyward. "... dooo you want your hoodie?" she asks, remembering the extra layer to spare.

Just as she utters that, he shivers. "Actually... I do. Yes," he sighs reluctantly and visibly cold out here. Then, a second later, as she pulls it off...

"... what the everloving fuck are you wearing?" he deadpans as the turtleneck appears.

"Bought it earlier today," she beams. "For the record, you can't keep it."

"Why would I?" Why would he? Good enough for a one time joke, but that's about it. Also, 'can't keep it?' That's such a Luffy thing to say.

"Because it's lame and nerdy doctor stuff?"

"Not part of my image, sorry."

 _His image_ , he says. Kat tries her best to stifle her laughter and shoves the cartoon bear hoodie on his head. That's one image, alright. "Okay, whatever. Without the others this fair is pretty damn boring, no lie. Let's go already, if you want to that bad."

"As eager as I am... I'm afraid of getting up," Law confesses with a sigh as he's getting his hands into the sleeves. He just knows by now that sitting for a while will result in uncomfortable things direction pants afterwards. Sick and tired of it. Can't help it either, though, so he braces himself and gets on his feet. Can't ignore Kat's constant grin any longer, however.

"Wat's so funny?" he asks, hugging himself for warmth. This is a godsent right now- and the pocket housing the chestnuts gives a nice little extra, too.

"...you look adorable." That big hoodie on her stick body is just... too cute. Looks as comfortable as it is, too. She could pinch his sullen, rosy cheeks.

"That would be you, not me," he replies. Which is something he immediately regrets, placing a slightly sticky hand on his face.

She snorts. "Thanks."

This otherwise totally forgettable line is on par on the embarrassment-meter with that last Saturday evening. Actually, scratch that. He's more embarrassed by this. And he feels he's blushing, too. Ugh...

As he's mulling over this, Kat sighs. "Don't worry, I know you didn't mean it like that." It's always embarrassing when a comment burns you back... it just happens sometimes. Also dang, it _is_ rather cold out here when there is no sun to shine. Just as she thinks about that, some rays break through the thinning cloud layer; not enough by far to get warm, though. "Now go, go, go, before I'm the one freezing my ass off," she says, shoving the recovering Law a little to get started as she makes her way towards a long-ish stinky alley between restaurants to cut a few blocks of houses.

As they step inside, they fall silent. The cause of it is not just an awkward episode; as the buildings cover up the gentle warmth of the broken sun, an oppressive, cold silence sweeps through the alleyway. If the icy breeze had claws, that's what would have been tickling up their ankles and down their necks. They pass a broken cup that's just like the one in Kat's left hand.

There is a great temptation from her to take up the much faster everyday pace, and Law feels a pair of eyes on his back. Then it's two... three. If this is something bad, -and it does feel bad,- it's really bad; Kat has no experience and he has no real means to defend even himself in a brittle body like this.

Halfway through, she raises her head, and takes his hand; he feels it tremble a little as her fingers close on his. "We are running late, let's hurry." Law follows the misplaced suggestion without protest. Hinting at being missed is good. Godspeed.

They can hear something clank behind a container as they exit back into the pallid light.

"I'm never going through there ever again," Kat mumbles with a shiver as they mingle in the crowd while still firmly holding his hand. That was... really stressful. It was probably... some of the stray cats often in there, or a homeless person at worst, but that felt freaky as hell. And of _course_ her lungs or something around those parts starts acting up after this. Just great.

"There was definitely someone in there," says Law, blindly cutting through the masses by her side. May have been some thieves or other scum preying on fair-goers who took the route, but either way, no good news in there. They had luck.

By the time they are back to the booth offering tea, their speed is back to normal, but they are still kind of on edge. They take a half-hearted look at the games corner to check whether the boys are still out, which is to no avail, as expected. Walking back towards the shipyard at last and slowly getting over the experience, Kat speaks up:

"... by the way, do you want to switch hands or something? The other one should be an icicle by now." She knows her own body well enough. When it's cold outside, her hands are just as chilly as the wind, even under some thick gloves. She hates it.

"... oh." That is all Law can muster, realizing that he's still holding onto Kat. He kind of forgot about it, to be honest... partly because he's still hung up about the alley, and partly because, well... his body's hands are really nice to have around. Handy, one could say. … would be amused at that, wouldn't she. And Kat's also not wrong about the other hand hiding inside the paper bag with the maroni where it's decently lukewarm.

He releases her hand and puts his inside the pocket as well, looking up forward where the main mast of the Thousand Sunny is in sight. Write this up to the embarrassing shit he's done today, because boy, there was quite some of that.

As they get on deck, they are met with bright light again; the clouds decided it's time to let the sun shine just as it didn't matter anymore. They silently acknowledge that it's just one of those days when nothing goes quite as planned.

* * *

(((another little extra because memes (that I'm trying really hard to avoid in the text otherwise); featuring the laziest digital coloring technique in existence)))  
78 DOT media DOT tumblr DOT com/2c9532349a70d79ae3b04f21f6ea28da/tumblr_ozs62zRfbW1qly52ko1_500 DOT png

Anyway, they are also called Spanish chestnuts, but there's no Spain... would they be called Dressrosa chestnuts? … would make sense, right?

ps. most of the latest 3 chapters has been written for a month and as I'm hitting another bridge chapter I may not manage to get out another one before 2018... we'll see. Happy holidays regardless, everyone! \o/


	17. Get in losers, we're doing science

After that, lunch time came in a jiffy. Apart from the faint throbs of her internal organs, Kat felt well enough to be a responsible adult and make the trip to Robin quick and compact, with her eating in the library. Which turned out to be fortunate, as the woman didn't seem to be all that upbeat today.

"The bushoo reminded me and the others of an uncomfortable incident."

That's all she said concerning the topic, and as it happens that was also the reason they were back soon after her and the boys went to town. Marveling at all the precious trinkets (and also some books on her side as they had eye-catching spines) made them both forget about the unnecessary stress from morning, however.

On her way out she almost bumps into the otherwise surprisingly elusive helmsman. "Ah...! Sorry, Sir Jinbe!" she says a little bewildered, nearly standing at attention.

"Oh, never mind, um... Kat, was it?" the big man asks, leaning a little forward.

"Y-yes, sir..."

Her serious demeanor puts a smile on his face. "No need to be that formal, I'm just another man out at sea."

"Oh, sorry, it's just... it feels weird to be even talking to someone so, uh, important and famous..." She blushes a little and starts fiddling with her thumbs, trying to shake off the tenseness. Can't help but find his presence... authoritative. He tends to spend breakfast time relaxing outside, watching the sea, as she's heard. She doesn't really see him around otherwise, either. Then again, he's such an obelisk of peace that she's afraid she's passed him a few times while blending into the environment already, all despite the fishman's sheer size.

"Starstruck, are you?" she can feel Carrot poke her in the back as she shoots off in the direction she just came from.

"Kinda..." she breathes.

"How does the progress after that little accident of yours look, anyhow?" asks Jinbe. His voice has a welcoming warmth to it, and also shows a hint of curiosity.

"Oh, um..." Kat needs a second to sort her thoughts- first, to identify what he's obviously asking about, and second, because... hm. What _is_ there to say? "Not very good, to be honest? My accuracy is... really far from Law's skill level, I'm sure. By now I really feel, and... kind of fear, actually... that trying to use his method will not be a viable thing to attempt..." She tried to refine her lazy levi-popping technique by leaving less and less space between the airborne watch and the blocks of paper; her margin of error, while ever-changing, is that of a thicker novel at her worst, which admittedly leaves a lot of room for improvement.

"Hmm... that's a little worrisome, isn't it," the man says in a thoughtful voice, straightening back up. "Then again, that sounded like there are other means you can think of?" he adds.

"Well," she scratches her neck, "I'm a lot better at just... levitating stuff? But I've yet to figure out anything as to how I want to do that with something as intangible as personalities, even on a theoretical level..." Her hand slides down and she looks down at her palms. "... and even then, how could I even practice _that_? It would be way too dangerous to just try either on any living being in the first place."

Jinbe listens carefully and nods to himself. "You already gave the impression when I first saw you, but you are certainly someone who thinks into problems deeply."

"Oh... you think so?" She can feel the blush creeping back onto her face.

"Yes, indeed." With that, he steps aside to face the sea. "... maybe it's foolish of me to suggest anything in the matter, as I know little of the workings of a devil's fruit... but you did mention intangible, and, as it happens..." he points out to the blue wastes, "water is plenty intangible, if you ask me. Perhaps it could help you figure out something. That is, if you have power over it..."

"... I do, actually," Kat mumbles, walking up to him. "Definitely in small quantities at least. Not sure where to start with such a large body..." She just froze whatever happened to be airborne at a given moment when she was bathing. Here she would need to separate some amount of it first. Hmm...

Jinbe doesn't say anything else and just observes her while thinking, then looking around, settling on an empty crate on shore.

Yes, that should be alright... maybe she won't even need anything specific to do this and just replace some water with thin air. Just... imagine a cube... then pick a random spot out at sea, and snap it out (while hopefully not beheading something while at it).

The unit of liquid which is about the size of any ball is quickly losing its edges, rounding up, but it's there, suspended in the air in front of them.

The fishman seems amused at the turns of events. "Oho!"

"Yeah... not sure what I could do with this, however... I can make rough shapes with it," the thing turns into what looks like a hand, following her movements, "and it is weirdly taxing to move it around and keep it from returning to normal, but... that's about it." The water returns to its default blob position upon her balling it into a fist.

"It might be a dead end once all is said and done, yes. Still, excuse me for finding this so fascinating... after all, even humans who have a firm grasp on fishman karate have little control over the water surrounding them. I dare say even the average merfolk has no better control over it as this ability grants you."

" _Really?_ " She's taken aback, to say the least... after a few seconds of gawking at him, she looks back at the see-through ball. "Man, this ope ope business really is beyond broken."

"It is one of the most useful devil fruits by default, after all," Jinbe sighs, unfolding his arms. A second later, he swings towards the non-object. It barely moves apart from the pressure of the movement rippling its surface thoroughly, the small impact folding back inside as if gravity itself was centered around the middle of it. "Hm, it's as solid as liquid water can get... Either way, legends always hold a grain of truth, and in this case, it's easy to see where it comes from."

Kat hums, watching the water circles cross into themselves on the uneven surface as they hear some of the boys approach.

"Hi," is all that Zoro moans, yawning; he looks like he just woke up, which... is likely, to be honest. His greeting is followed up by Chopper's, who seems to be having a blast, running up to them.

"Hey, Kat~ what are you doing?" the reindeer asks, checking out the odd blob she has there while bouncing on his little feet.

"Hey there~ Dicking around... you sure seem to be in high spirits," she says, cracking a smile.

"I just gave him cotton candy from the fair... how is it going?" waves Usopp, also stepping towards them.

"Trying to figure out possible alternatives to the misplaced body-slash-spirit problem, to be honest." With that she tosses the water, which turns into a splash before being stopped in its tracks again. She gives it a little spin.

"Oh, that's pretty!" Chopper squeals as the small particles twinkle in the light. Kat grins, collecting it back into one, then reforms the previous hand, making a peace sign. This successfully propels the small pirate to 'SO COOL' mode instead.

"That really is neat, never saw Torao doing something like this... though, you truly seem to be dicking around more than anything," the sniper remarks. Chopper demands more tricks meanwhile, screaming out random objects to turn the water into; Kat tries her best to comply to whatever is within her skill range. Zoro seems to be barely there mentally and quite disinterested, and Jinbe is just enjoying himself at this point.

"The only difference between dicking and science is writing it all down, anyway," she shrugs.

"True," he laughs.

Speaking of science and remembering the ripples from a minute ago, she is reminded of something, though, which can be read on her face as she redirects her attention to her wobbly ball.

"Did you remember something you forgot? Because that's the face you are making now," Usopp muses.

"No, I'm just thinking... physics..." she mumbles, then turns to them. "Sound and light have physical properties, no?"

"Uh, yeah," nods Usopp, along with Chopper who has calmed down and taken a few steps back.

"Then I could, theoretically, fuck with that, too, right?"

Collective blinking.

"Okay, wait a sec," Kat says, thinking about this new 'problem,' which does honestly help nothing with the main problem, but who cares. We're doing science, kids. Well... dicking. Because she won't write any of this down for sure.

Let's see... both of those things travel as straight as an arrow, and more importantly, move hella fast, so she can't just misplace them. It's not as if she couldn't, but noone would notice a thing, at least not in small scale, such as... reaching for a bowl at the corner of a table, or fucking around with a defect pocket watch. She needs something else, like... redirecting. Bending. She looks at the water still suspended over the sea. There's a high chance of this being a really exhausting endeavor like molding water into different forms, but if she just made stuff go around the thing... so light won't reach it... oh well, trying over thinking in this case.

And... _something_ does happen. Not exactly what she was going for, though.

Collective shock with mouth agape. Zoro, who's been idling around, cannot believe his eyes, and rubs them for the umpteenth time for good measure. But no, that... really is what it is.

A gaping hole in reality that's just... blackest black nothingness.

"Uh..." Backing the fuck out, undo, UNDO... The blob... is back, with a lukewarm wave. Immediately. As is everything else.

"That was freaky as _fuck_ , what the hell did you do?!" spits Usopp towards her, slapping her back.

"I think I just... removed every matter whatsoever around that thing..." More accurately, instead of bouncing anything off and creating something akin to a mirage or mirror, she didn't let anything entering the area leave... thinking about it, that... is the principle of a black hole. Oops, time to blacklist this trick forever. Just to make sure. What if she let stuff run around it in circles?

The answer is a very unstable looking, humming, and rather bright spot that's getting lighter and noisier by the second...

"Not to be that person, Kat..." Usopp starts, squinting, "but please stop this before it explodes and you accidentally kill us all...?"

"Yeah... okay, one last experiment," she says as life gets back to normal within a blink of time, the maneuver also releasing a breeze. Usopp scoots behind the mesmerized Zoro and mumbles something about developing an allergy to science. Chopper follows him after a short delay.

But after a few seconds of adjusting, there it is... This was the first thing she tried to do. There's a little distortion she can spy, but... they can't see shit. Only the sea and the ships out. She made the light from the rough direction of the water blob entering their eyes curve around the object... making it invisible. She pokes a finger inside- it disappears as well. Siiiiiiick.

Chopper and Usopp are 'ooh'-ing and clap; Jinbe is also impressed. Meanwhile Zoro wipes his eyes again. Kat grins wide.

"Ohohoho _ho_ ~ now we're talking!" The water splashes back into the ocean and she almost does a little dance; wouldn't be able to hide her excitement if she wanted to... this really _is_ freaky. "Can you even imagine the amount of trolling one can do with this?! All I need to learn is to separate sound from light and both of these from other stuff!" The government might as well be out for her blood before she breaks reality itself. If it wasn't already at it, because of reasons.

"I volunteer to steer clear off your path whenever you start practicing..." the sniper states in confidence with finger guns. "Do call me whenever you are up for those pranks, though," he adds.

"So cool..." is all that Chopper can whisper-shout-squeal.

Jinbe, while a little nervous, also smiles. "Best of luck."

The swordsman turns around and mutters about going straight back to sleep after booze, a combination which is probably a bad idea after witnessing such mind-bending shenanigans.

Reentering the volcano, her good mood is noted immediately.

"... why does that grin make me think you are up to no good?" asks Law with a raised eyebrow, standing on his bed as he's putting some of the many books on the floor back to a shelf.

"You expecting new blackmail material, or what?" she asks, cocking her head. He must have quite a bit of that, actually. "And nah, it's nothing of importance." … okay, the temptation is too big. "But I learned a new trick~" she whispers, which scares the shit out of Law as he can hear the sentence from behind his left ear while she's still definitely in the doorway as he can see from the corner of his eye; the stack of books held in one of his hands tumble down. She just laughs, lifting them back up to him and climbs up to the displeased man who punches her shoulder. The force her arm is capable of is not something to be reckoned with, but her bony knuckles and the passion behind it make up for some of that damage.

"Sorry, sorry, that was mean... I'll help out, okay?"

"You better be," he grumbles, rubbing his ear before snatching the books around him from the air one by one. Once he has all of them back, he stops in his tracks; "Also, how the fuck did you do that?"

"... bullshit science."

* * *

*sticks me legy out real far* I don't actually know shit about physics, quantum or otherwise. (It's the subject I sucked most badly at, actually.)

And wow, almost another month went by between updates... like, I wrote about twice as much, but still, that ain't shit. Also, there will be approximately 40 chapters. Plus-minus 5. It's a rough estimate as you can never really know how you'll split up stuff, but will do.

Also have another silly picture: inexchangeforyoursoul DOT tumblr DOT com/post/169818369352/random-bullshit-for-that-shitty-fic-that-will

psps I can't believe I'm getting comments/reviews? thanks obama,,,


	18. The end of just another day

Soon enough she started bouncing on the bed, which eventually earned some Law-brand righteous fury, pocket edition. Got away with a kick in the shin (which doesn't say much as he had no shoes on,) a cheek pinch, then getting pushed over with his arm over her neck. Latter was scary to be honest, considering all the junk on the floor... but she hit the mattress, so all was good. One ought to know people's limits, and Kat figures that she must have overstepped Law's twofold that day. If he could have, he would have spewed fire... truly a shrew, in and out.

For a moment she was afraid that he was legitimately mad, but manhandling her seemed to let out the steam as he returned to his usual self afterwards. Which was double the relief, really; he was being so high-strung that it made her nervous after a while, too. Must have been hung up on that little adventure in the morning still... accidentally solved that problem, didn't she. Still felt kind of bad about pissing him off, not gonna lie; her conscience made her tidy up a few spots later. This involved making heaps of stuff look neat and orderly whenever he was out to the loo. It's... some kind of a bug of hers, but she just cannot clean with someone else around.

On the other hand, though... she proceeded to waste the rest of the day by trying to get the ins and outs of this space-time manipulation she discovered instead of, you know... doing what she's supposed to. The procrastination period has officially kicked in, which is bad. Kat knows it, and yet... she cannot concentrate on this shitty practice anymore. Just after two minutes her thoughts kept wandering off. She'd rather have been cooking than sitting down there, which really shows how desperate she's become to do anything else already. Which in turn also makes her feel guilty.

Can't even think about anything else as she quits the bathroom with black hair once again. She also forgot to get the hoodie, but mayyybe she shouldn't bother Law more today... he seemed rather tired and is probably asleep already. Sigh... it must be just as cold outside as last time, will have to run for it.

Crossing the dining level, she nearly bumps into another elusive and huge man for the second time that day.

"Oh, shoot...! Sorry," she squeaks, and is especially concerned upon seeing that he has a very big pot in his hands.

"It's alright, it's alright! Be careful, though, wouldn't want to splash you," Fugu says with a smile, backing into a hallway to make the staircase free.

"Oh, as long as it's not hot, it really is no big deal... I keep having to remind Law that clothes are washable, actually." Hearing that makes him break into a snort-ridden goofy laugh. "I'd be more concerned wasting some of that... soup, is it?"

"Yes, on its way to the cold-room before I get the missing bits tomorrow," he nods. "By the by, you're welcome to eat over again, if you like."

"Um, yeah..." She's a little embarrassed here... it's rude to just never turn up again, even if it feels off to go back to a place that has awkward memories tied to it. Especially without someone to accompany her... and she also has the unfortunate habit to avoid places she feels she hasn't visited in too long. A few of said places she liked a lot, too... just thinking about it is embarrassing. She starts picking at the hem of the tee. "Sorry for not visiting at all, it's just... there are so many people, and after what happened last time, I, uh..."

"I see, I see," he says with an understanding sigh. "You don't have to push yourself. It will be all the more gratifying to see you pop up anyway."

"Okay," she breathes timidly, putting her hands together to play with her thumbs again.

"Well then, don't let me hold you up here. See you around, Miss Kat- and goodnight!" Fugu bids farewell, working his way backwards through the passage.

"Same to you!" Kat puts said hands on her mouth- whoops, her voice slipped a little too high there and broke... seems like eons since that last happened. Even though it was two days ago, and that estimation is almost pushing it.

Opening the entrance makes her forget all about that, though, because holy _hell_ , is it freezing out here for someone in a single T-shirt. Can't stop, won't stop until barging into the ladies quarters where everyone has already gathered.

"Oh, so that's why you're late," Nami notes in a half-hushed tone, in the process of getting under the covers. Carrot is already asleep. "Honestly, you should have kept your hair like that."

Kat shivers one last time before moving from the entrance. "Retrospectively it really was a bad idea to wash it out right before going, because _sheesh_ ," she breathes.

"Where did the hoodie of yours go?" Robin asks, having put on her PJs at last.

She sighs as she's patting some volume into her day-by-day flattening pile of fluff; "Forgot it... then decided against bothering Law when I got out of the bathroom, because quite frankly, he looked exhausted." She sits down. "... and I also made him angry earlier today, so... yeah."

"Has it anything to do with that new trick we've heard about?" Nami mumbles from her pillow.

"Not really, I was just being a pest... although, now that you brought it up, check this out~" With that, she stands up anew, near perfectly disappearing from the environment a second later.

"That's wonderful," Robin muses, smiling on the edge of the bed. She sprouts an arm to poke the girl in the back, to which she winces. "Your shadow is still visible, but that only adds to it." Hearing that, Nami also lifts herself a bit to see this with her own eyes. Kat looks back to the wall where she's reflecting the light from.

"Dang, you're right..." she pouts, putting her hands on her hip; the reflection follows in kind.

"You are making these powers look like party tricks..." Nami smiles, falling back into bed. Kat is like... oh god, it's like the first incarnation of the Clima Tact. And its debut. Usopp and his stupid manual... okay, thinking about that just pissed her off. She turns onto her other side and mumbles a goodnight to everyone.

"Too bad I don't really know how any of these shadow figures work," Kat mumbles, trying to get a rabbit right; which is, quite frankly, the only one she knew how to do years and years back. Something acceptable appears after a little fiddling around and she's content with that, dispelling the unstable aura that has become noticeable upon concentrating on the silly task of playing with shadows.

Robin's watching her with amusement. "You should show that to Carrot, I think she would appreciate it."

"I guess so," Kat mumbles, then lets out a really big yawn. "God, I'm also out of commission for the day... what time is it anyway? He has nothing to show the time in that hole as far as I can tell." She squints at the corner with the clock, but the nightlight is just not doing it from this distance."

"Just past 11," Robin tells her, also slipping under the covers.

"That should explain it... oh well, goodnight." Robin hums in response, and before Kat could even think about switching the light off, it's gone already. She curls up in her pile to get this sluggish show going again tomorrow. Oh boy.

As the last lights go out all across town, blown away by the cold breeze like candles, and the only thing resounding near and far is the rumble of the sea and a melancholy violin solo from the very ship Kat is on, three figures could be spied near the docks. If someone were to see them, the only thing they could make out was that two of them were quite tall, and one of these two was also wearing something furry and shaggy, not unlike the costumes popular on this festival taking place.

"Bite me, Baltazar wasn't kidding..." the tallest one mumbles. Definitely a man. "These fools really are loitering here, a week later."

"So... what's the plan?" the really deep voice of the not-quite bushoo inquires.

The other grunt-sighs. "... as you may guess, the temptation is big... but first, let's see what we can do for our friend Gambo and the boys... will likely have to wait for them being escorted to the marine ship they'll have to board. I owe the man one, after all," he thinks aloud. After a few seconds of contemplation, he arrives at a conclusion. "If the security will be too tight or risky, it is what it is. In that case, we could go and have some fun instead. What do you say?"

"I'll be damned, Baltazar wasn't kidding..." the tallest one mumbles. Definitely a man. "These fools really are loitering here, a week later."

"So... what's the plan?" the really deep voice of the not-quite bushoo inquires. The other grunt-sighs.

"... it's too obvious that I'm tempted, huh? Why else would I have insisted on preparing you all for this specific target, anyway... But first, let's see what we can do for our friend Gambo and the boys. I owe the man one, after all," he thinks aloud. After a few seconds of contemplation, he arrives at a conclusion. "If the security will be too tight or risky, it is what it is. In that case, we could go and have some fun instead. What do you say?"

* * *

A day when nothing goes as planned, that is. We're about halfway through, time to get some fucking plot going.

Also have another dumb extra: inexchangeforyoursoul DOT tumblr DOT com/post/170145400882/metal-gear-solid-sfx-aka-a-little-meanwhile


	19. Garchu (aka Hug Trilogy, pt 1)

Kat sits up fresh and ready on this extra bright Wednesday. She's a bit early, the girls are still sleeping or at least lying about. Nestling a bit, she goes cross legged and leans back against the wall.

Today she saw a dream that was... nice, overall. Even had the little surreal touches she knows from her usual ones. First is a vague memory of sitting in class at school... then she was with the man again. The one with the cloak. If it was indeed the same guy, at least; there were heaps of soft, pretty black feathers everywhere, actually. The town she was in made a nice backdrop, being almost snow white. This time she could also see what he looked like beyond being incredibly tall, too: he had fluffy, blonde hair, eyes that had a similar color to Law's, and either some makeup or tattoos on his face. Looked quite peculiar for sure; maybe it's the sheer height and the weird coat choice, but for the brief moment upon arrival, when he had sunglasses on, he reminded her vaguely of that one Shichibukai guy. Well... ex-Shichibukai. Uh... yeah, Doflamingo. Anyway, that aside, she also recalls him wearing an odd hat, and shirt with a pattern... at first it was flowers, but it changed very soon, and they turned into petals, maybe... no, hearts, yes, that's it! And there was smoke coming from under the coat all the time... An odd fellow, but he looked friendly enough.

At some point, a little girl joined; the three of them played in the white sand that the town was suddenly made of. A lot of buildings collapsed as time went by, and children, probably those from the school as most of them were wearing a uniform, joined them. Later came two other people, likely a couple, to take both her and the little girl 'home.' Something about the woman was eerily familiar... but only when she smiled. That surprised her into remembering the scene fairly well. Actually... that's kind of what her own smile looks like. And her actual mother's. No wonder she just accepted being their kid, huh. Oh, and the other, she could _swear_ looked like Law in a lab coat. Except not... no matter how hard she tries to recall details now, she can't remember any face past the blonde man's.

It all ended as they entered the gates to somewhere and this guy smiled in a rather creepy way. She gets the feeling that she's seen that grin before, to be honest. Thinking about it, those gates, too... she's _definitely_ seen that entrance before. Yes, it seemed to be the very same place as the first nightmare, but now that she's gotten a better, well, 'look' at it and what lay beyond...

She scratches away at her not-quite-existent beard; where _else_ could she know it from?

After some consideration, she grabs her bag from beyond the wardrobe and pulls out some paper, her sketching board and a pencil to throw some rough doodles down so she can remember it all later. Because, honestly? She's getting suspicious of these dreams. There's too much... consistency, and the only other kinds of dreams she can vaguely recall also feel foreign or refer to the past few days only. This has been going on since inhabiting this body, and she's inclined to make some assumptions here. Will have to talk this over with Law.

Especially important for now are that gate... and the face of this man; she tries to nail a few features of latter first. The third doodle has the jawline and hair style in place, then she adds some sketchy feathers and a shirt. Having lost a lot of small details to oblivion already, she just jots down the vague position of blue and red spots that were remarkable. Now, as for the structure... a few arbitrary lines, and she's got the basics of both the wall and the gate. It all looks pretty simple, and she's never seen it in person, yet... it's so, _so_ familiar. It's the feeling of having the name of something on the tip of your tongue... except there is no name you can think of. You just know what you know.

"What are you drawing with such a serious expression, Kat?" she can hear Carrot's voice next to her all of a sudden. She must have been watching for a bit.

"Oh, morning... I've had a dream and am trying to make myself remember the stuff," she replies, getting over the surprise, then turns back to the sketches. "Been a while since I last did this, but I've had some recurring stuff in the past days, so..."

"I envy you," the girl mumbles, pouting. "I never remember a thing even when it was interesting, and when I do, it's something mundane like taking a walk or training. Although..." Her face saddens a bit; "I get to spend time with people I will never see again, too, I guess."

"..." Okay, this got depressing fast. "... you okay?"

She stretches out her arms; "Yeah, sorry."

"If you need a hug or something, just ask."

The mink's ears shoot skyward. "Hug?"

"You're free to decline. Just saying in case you'll ever want onh-"

"I'm always ready for hugs! _Garchuuu~_ "

Okay, she's confirmed to be a hugger, Kat thinks to herself as the mink mushes her face against hers while squeezing all the air out of her. Which is kind of great, because she, too, loves hugs; noone's ever been this excited over one, though. Then again she's on the receiving end... and is lowkey infamous for her bear hugs, which people apparently don't like.

"You two sure are lively today," she can hear Nami yawning in bed, turning to her other side. Five more minutes, please.

"Sorry~" Kat whispers with her leftover breath before being released. This is followed by some back-stretching, and -popping on her side, which feels beyond great after all these days where she just couldn't get Law's joints do the _thing_. Like, at all. Only his wrists would budge from time to time.

"Gee, you sure are strong... What's garchu supposed to be, by the way?" she asks once her oxygen supplies have been restocked.

Carrot's entire body is nearly vibrating... she's hyped and ready to pounce at the first thing she has to. That hug surely kicked off her day- she's trying to focus that energy into formulating a decent sentence now. "Of course I am! And 'garchu' is, like... it's more of a sound, literally speaking. But it's when you are being cuddly, kind of." Her nose twitches and she scratches her head. "Which is very often. Iiit's... a mink thing."

"I can get behind that philosophy," Kat chuckles, crawling out of the cotton sea at last, and stuffs her things back into the bag where they came from. "Let's pull ourselves together to let the others do the same in peace, shall we."

The rabbit girl nods, hopping to the wardrobe to get the sweatshirt she's been wearing on and off as it started to get colder. Must be just that range outside when she needs it in one minute, then gets too hot in the next.

As for Kat, -apart from being cold with the tee and all,- she's out with a bit more luggage than usual; if nothing else, noticing the drawing supplies might remind her of this shady dream business. Also, she's in a cuddly mood, and for better or worse she's already comfortable enough in this environment to give out some surprise hugs. Since she's also not one to hold back and Law's body is at least ten times stronger than hers... rest in pieces, mortals.

Her first victim was Usopp right outside, who's been kinda suspicious of her scheme to begin with... and found he was right in doing that. Didn't break anything, or even hurt him, really, but did scare the shit out of him for sure. All of his joints popped at once, making quite a racket, and he made a sound akin to a squeaky toy upon being crushed. And lifted, as is her standard for anyone she can do that with, and _boy_ are her limitations near nonexistent right now. Then came Luffy, who was all for the deal despite his bestie's warnings. He was rather unfazed, but what does one expect from him anyway.

Right before she left for the submarine, the girls have also met their comeuppance; Robin took it like a champ, as did Carrot who was ready for seconds, this time as the recipient. Witnessing her massacre, Nami only agreed to a normal hug; this meant an extra tender one, as Kat only knows extremes in this matter. Realizing there are options, Usopp also insisted on not getting the anaconda treatment in the future.

Needless to say, she was in a great mood when arriving to Law. While her bounciness was a bit too much for his comfort, he only gave her a few suspicious looks when walking out and into the room. Speaking of which, the frequency of his (more than likely) toilet visits has declined. Which is good, for him and her body at least. Kat also noticed that he was rather underdressed whilst in his room and had a sweater ready for whenever he left for the surface; sometimes he'd come back with a glass of water or beer, too. Learned from the initial folly, didn't he... even at the price of more pressing reasons to go to the loo. The efforts put a smile on her face when she first realized- he took better care of that body than her, really. Either way, as she stayed halfway on-task this morning, he didn't really say anything between her arrival and lunch break. Though he was definitely scarcer with words than usual... hm. Noted.

Once having fished out another hoodie (where the hell did Law leave the one from yesterday...?) and being back on the Thousand Sunny for some grub, she also gives a not-too-bone crushing hug to Chopper. Strong little fella or not, she's afraid of hurting him in that tiny form of his. As she's putting him down, she notices Luffy and Carrot staring really intensely... volunteering for another round, aren't they.

As soon as she garchu'd the heck out of them, she also notices Sanji standing in the same spot... he's a follower of the same staring technique, apparently. After half a second of consideration, he also gets a crusher hug. Which earns a... 'reaction' with a side of nosebleed, and, uh...

"... I think he got a rib fracture," Chopper sighs with exasperation, mild worry, and vague pity. The man is flung over the enlarged reindeer's shoulder as he's being taken to the infirmary for some painkiller and a quick patch-up. Luffy mutters a duck-faced 'Sanji's stupid.'

… oops...? Didn't even get to apologize... Somehow, this seems to be a common problem, though, so at least she doesn't feel _that_ bad about it. Either way, Sanji seems to be accommodating to her frolicking around in this 'new' body. Will have to see how bad this piece of news is.

Kat looks over to her plates of vegetable soup, rice and pork chops. Eating this would feel weird now that she incapacitated the cook. But, she really needs to eat while this training lasts, and is also hungry because of it, so...

"... you still sulking about that, or...?" Carrot mumbles between two bites of a big representative of her namesake she has for dessert as Kat's fiddling with her leftovers in the doorway.

"... yeah."

"It really is not that big of a deal, you know... Sanji gets to be under Bropper's care over much stupider stuff all the time." She heard that at one point he almost died over a single nosebleed because he got hugged or something like that... she needs to control herself for a sec here, or else chuckling gets her to join the infirmary team for choking on her lunch.

"I've had the feeling, but... can't really punch my brain for making me feel like this, can I." Beating up her feelings in fisticuffs would be a really useful ability to have, no lie. She'd probably lose a lot, though.

Carrot hums through a mouthful. "Zat's druu."

Taking a look outside through the door window, Kat can see the sun shining really bright; she takes one last bite before giving up on the remaining morsels of her food, then makes her way out. As they are the last ones in the kitchen and she prefers to have some company, Carrot follows her.

Today's weather is really nice compared to the last few days. Kat enjoys the warmth with closed eyes, as does her mink companion, nibbling away at the leaves of her carrot. A second later, Chopper comes hoppling down the stairs.

"Oh, you're already done?" Kat is a little surprised, it's been fifteen minutes tops, after all- and he wasn't even coming from the room where she also got patched up a week ago. Everyone is working at light speed here... "Is he, um, alright...?"

"Yep, Sanji's fine," he in forms her with a sigh; "I did prescribe him a good dose of 'keep out' as far as you and your hugs are concerned, though."

"Sorry for the trouble, Chopper... I really didn't think I could break bones after all the people who survived without a scratch," she muses shamefully while sitting down at the top of the staircase.

"Oh, it's fine," he waves a hoof. "It's one of the things I'm here for, after all." Household accidents tend to just happen. Especially over here. "Though I don't really understand how it happened, either."

"I kind of get your confusion... I went easy on you, after all," the confesses, leaning on her arms.

"Eh? Why that?" he pouts after the initial surprise, putting his hooves on his waist.

She returns the pouty expression; "Because you are small and I don't want to break you?"

"You could just ask me to turn big, you know?" He states with the bother already gone, then lifts his arms skyward. "I'm a pirate, I can take a beating! Hugs are no match for me!"

"Are they?" Kat asks, also lifting her arms.

"One way to find out!" With that, Chopper's already going for it, clinging to her neck.

She lies down dramatically with fake momentum as she's returning the gesture. "Oh no, how vicious...! How could I ever think that I stood a chance?!" The small doctor starts laughing.

"Oh my god, you guys," Carrot chortles, then starts coughing- the last bits of those leaves did manage to go astray.

"... Kat... you can release me now," the reindeer voices his opinion after a minute. "You're as cuddly as a mink, really."

"Why, are you not one?" she asks, lifting him over her.

"Nope, I'm just a regular reindeer," he informs the girl. "I can talk and stuff because of the Human Human Fruit."

She blinks. "... don't laugh... but I thought you were a mink who happened to eat the corresponding Ox-Ox model of all things..."

Chopper does break out in laughter again; calming down a bit, he nods; "Makes sense!" Kat sighs with a smile and crawls up from the floor, putting him down.

Getting over her own little crisis for good, Carrot chimes in: "There wouldn't be much of a difference, would there..."

'None at all,' is what Kat thinks to herself standing up. She can hear some voices approach while doing so; after short eavesdropping it's obviously Bepo and the Romeos. She's only seen them on board of the Sunny once before, though, so if they really are coming over, it's a little out of the ordinary.

"Look at that, we didn't even have to look for him," Penguin says to himself as the other two become visible as well. He waves as he walks closer to them. "Hey there, girls and little guy!"

"Hi! What's the occasion?" she asks wondering as she goes down the stairs. Chopper follows her.

"We're actually here to ask our fellow doc whether he needs some supplies restocked since we're going shopping in a bit... plus, I'd also be interested in a book I've seen, if it's no bother," he adds, looking over to Chopper.

"Why'd you have to wake me, though?" Bepo complains, rubbing an eye. He's been having such a nice nap in this weather, too...

"Because we could," Shachi smiles to himself, then continues while Bepo groans an indignant 'that's mean!'; "And we'll need help to carry stuff anyway, chill."

"Actually," Chopper starts as him an Kat reach the lawn, "apart from some food, we already bought everything last week. Sanji wants to deal with that tomorrow, if you want to wait that long."

Shachi steps closer as Penguin lets out a thoughtful hum; "Nah, we'll pass, food is not our department. You can ask Fugu about that, but he's got this bug to go out for fresh stuff every day until we gotta stock up for departure."

Meanwhile Bepo plods closer to the shore, listening to the faded noises of the fair from the dozen rusty and mostly closed-off storehouse's distance. The place has gotten a bit noisier compared to yesterday; as it happens, this was something that won't stop from escalating until Saturday night.

"I see... well, which book are you interested in?" He put every single medical book he could find into one place the other day, so finding it shouldn't be an issue.

As Penguin is giving a description of a blue-bound tome concerning the nervous system, Shachi turns to Kat. "Were you guys telling jokes or something earlier? We could hear little Bropper having a blast from a mile away."

"Kat's giving out hugs by the dozen," Carrot informs him with a sudden glint in the eye, distracting Penguin and Chopper, too. The girl's ears are not just for show, are they?

Carrot, why… actually, she can work with this. "... yeah, today I'm super cuddly. Do you guys want one?" she asks with the sweetest smile. Even the boys can tell that her expression is just a wee bit too intense and scary for this offer to be any good. But by god, if she doesn't get her revenge now, it's never.

From a bit further behind the mink, Usopp's shout to attest their doubts can be heard: "No, you don't!"

After weighing the options of funny and resulting work here, Chopper decides to talk them out of this endeavor, too. "... Usopp's right. She just sent Sanji to the sick-bay with fractured ribs." There were two affected.

Catching that, the sniper's head pops up from behind the railing one floor above them. "No way?! You're lying!"

"I'M NOT LYING!" Chopper turns, screaming back at him.

"Guys, you are no fun," Carrot pouts. She wanted to see this, man.

"... something tells me... we dodged a bullet, here," Penguin mumbles under his breath. She broke Sanji... that tanky motherfucker _Sanji._

While the others are having their banter, Kat zeroes in onto Bepo sniffling the sweet air that wafts from port, then walks up to him. As he notices her, he utters a little nervous 'ai?'. She spreads her arms.

"Garchu?"

She needs to react quick, as Bepo is already, well, incoming a split second of excited shock later. She's prepared for the worst, but to her surprise? There's no falling over now that she's prepared, in fact, she barely budges. Judging by gravity and the sheer weight, though... she's straight-out carrying him. She can lift a _bear. Holy shit._ Meanwhile Carrot notices the development and snorts really hard.

"Jesus Christ, what are you guys feeding Law with!?" Kat asks, waltzing backwards to the group with the, uh, baby still in her arms. Everyone seems to be quite amused by the scene; as Shachi starts coughing to hide his near-laughter, she puts the mink down at last.

"You know no fear, do you?" Penguin asks with a bright smile. "There's not a lot you can do when metric tons of marshmallow come at you like that..."

"... I guess I don't," she muses after a some consideration. The only thing she can think of is her mild fear of heights, snakes, and (specifically flying) wasps that she can plough through after the initial scare or wooziness... and shit like burning to death and drowning would be unnecessarily painful, so she'd rather not go like that. As if she'd have a choice in the matter if that happens, anyway; but there's no point in worrying about that and it's not really _fear_ fear unless you think about it a lot... is it? She doesn't really think about things she cannot change. She's rather at peace with them, though in some cases she probably shouldn't be.

Bepo yawns and mumbles an 'I'm going back to sleep.' Without further hesitation he's already nestling down in a nice corner behind the stairs.

"I see you are amusing yourselves," Robin notes as she walks out of the kitchen with an empty watering can. Usopp seems to be a little confused for a sec, she must have been up there with him in the garden a minute ago. "Sanji is brewing some coffee, would any of you like some?"

"... actually, I do, too," says Kat, joining the other raised hands. She can feel her power hugging taking quite a bit out of her... this is not going to last for much longer. And while she's at it, she might as well drink it out here, and maybe, just because she saw Law doing it often... use Bepo as a fluffy thing to lean onto.

* * *

I drew nothing specific so have a Cora doodle from the other day: inexchangeforyoursoul tumblr com/post/170986770712/baby-baby-boy

I just put the fragments and stuff I've yet to use in another file... it's 28 pages. The chapters from 11 to 20 are 49 pages, and the next chapter is only about halfway done. First 10 were 38 altogether. Um, lol...? (tfw you're verbose and start including the author's notes, too)

If I'm already about meta... there's about 300% more Carrot in this thing than originally planned, not gonna lie; likely at the expense of Chopper and Bepo. And they aren't even characters I find hard to write, it just made sense that Carrot spends more time with Kat. The experimental shit was also going to be done with Brook instead of Jinbe. What a mess of a task writing a story is, man... no wonder Oda is near 900 chapters deep in this shit. (And yes, this is the furthest I've gotten with any long-winded idea I've had all my life, including high school, where I had a number of these. Go figure. I still think I use about twice as many pronouns than necessary, but my writing will have changed for the better after all this typing I hope.)

Also, I constantly have the maps for the Sunny open, but I'm still confused as to how some rooms are connected ngl... NotLikeThis


	20. Katja (pt 2: soft hugs)

As he arrives in his room, Law takes a quick look at his alarm clock, then a deep, ragged breath immediately after... she's out loafing around again, isn't she. He's a little ticked off, not gonna lie; first of all, because of... this. She just keeps doing _this_. Which would be less of a problem if she'd show any progress, but she's not. Second, he's tired, terribly so. All sleep he's had today was the unplanned nap in the canteen early morning, and the ounce of patience he's gained from that has ran out. He's just about to leave the indifferent coma period behind where you can just keep going and going, until your emotions start to get hard to control. Even later, you become an actual zombie and eventually black out. In his own body, that would start happening in about 24 hours from now, but in this one? Already there.

And the underlying source of it is that he's grown totally paranoid.

That's why he hasn't managed to get any shuteye. Or get anything else done. His own shadow spooked him once, for fuck's sake... and it's all because of that godforsaken alleyway adventure, which really drove home how utterly helpless and vulnerable he is at the moment. Deer in the fucking headlights. He's straight-up disgusted with himself.

He stomps up to the surface; anyone noticing him remains silent and makes sure to keep out. His crew knows this way of walking... and are not eager to provoke his thinly veiled ire.

He just came from the dining hall, she won't be there. On deck of the Polar Tang, nothing except so much light that his tired eyes may as well go blind right now. The dull headache that missed its appointment the other day just arrived uninvited, too... all it took was some natural light and fresh air. Glorious.

He climbs the rope ladder to the Sunny; noone's around the steering wheel, but he can hear, and see some people around; he goes straight up to them.

"Nico-ya," he calls out from afar; "do you know where the hell she's at?"

"I'm... in heaven," he hears right next to him as soon as he's finished talking. He stops in his tracks, looks, and sees... quite something, he supposes. It's throwing him for enough a loop to be more dumbfounded than pissed for the time being.

The bottom of the pile is a knocked-out Bepo; leaning onto him are Carrot, who's also out cold, and Kat, who has a very relaxed, leg-swinging Chopper in her lap. They all have a cup in their hand or lying around, just like Nami, Robin and his good-for-nothing crewmates a bit further away.

As he doesn't react fast enough past getting worked up again over them having the _nerve_ to hog his personal couch and a mouthed 'what the hell,' she speaks up again. "It's nice, warm and fluffy here~ Wanna join?"

… she's taunting him. Kat has no idea, but _she's fucking taunting him right fucking now_. Any other day or time, he'd gladly lean onto Bepo and have a damn good early afternoon nap, or any other kind of nap, really. But today is not the day. He'd love to, yes; it's the best fucking quality sleep he has access to. Usually. But because Bepo is wide awake from around 6pm to 7am, he can't use him as a pillow _at all_ while rotting in his room, keeping one eye on this girl during the time he actually could be doing that. Just... take a deep, deep breath. Stay calm, man. Stay. Calm.

He sighs, clenching his fists, and now that Kat's actually looked at him, he can already see from her mildly worried expression that she's catching onto his current mood. "... Kat-ya... I swear to god..."

Hearing that changes her reaction with some delay, however... the smallest smile appears on her face which she tries to suppress; she locks her hands and takes a long sniff of air while looking skyward. Soon, she gives up on hiding her glee, and a shit eating grin appears on her face and she just looks very, very pleased with herself. "... I've been waiting for this."

"... _what?!_ " Law frowns, having no idea what got into her. Was it something he said? It has to be.

She doesn't seem fazed and keeps giggling to herself while lifting a just as confused Chopper from her lap and slowly standing up.

"Oh, _oh!_ I understand!" speaks up the reindeer snickering soon after as he comes to the solution; "That's your name, it was on the tag at the coffee shop! Katja! Ha ha ha!"

… oh. _Oh._ Jesus, _really?_ Law lifts his hands to his chin as if praying instead of giving into the initial urge to smack himself; he knew that it's an abbreviation, but he'd have never thought that the original was _that_ of all things... and she's been fucking waiting for him to accidentally pun on it. And, on top of it all, this might be... no, it certainly is the very first time he called her by name, too. Why him... and why now. … he could cry if it weren't for his pride. So instead he squeezes his eyes shut and is furrowing his brows really, really hard to keep it together.

He can hear her stop in front of him, then, after a few seconds, he feels the most delicate little tap-tap of four fingers on his shoulder. Cracking an eye open, he can see Kat holding out a half empty cup of coffee. Is... she offering this...?

"I suppose you need this more than I do," she says. It could be just his imagination, but it certainly sounds like her voice is softer than usual. Considering the vague throbs of his head, this is lowkey appreciated.

"Um..." As he's vacillating how to handle this development, a half-conscious Bepo woken by the racket trots over and pulls both of them into a literal, but way gentler bear hug than what other people have been experiencing that day. The content of the cup survives this, somehow, and Kat is holding it out to the side.

"I miss Captain," the mink mumbles, then probably falls back asleep on his feet. At least he doesn't really move for a solid minute afterwards and is just rocking a bit to keep some kind of balance.

Peeking up towards Bepo, a sad smile appears on Kat's face. She reaches over with her free hand along the orange-clad pelt with a sigh and gives Law an awkward hug of her own, then breathes a 'garchu' into his hat. He can't help being startled and shrink a bit in surprise at this; hopefully the others don't notice anything of that past the tic of his shoulders.

"Sorry, didn't mean to stay out for long," she says then; "I can see you are not up for bullshit today."

Sometimes... she's as giggly as Carrot. At others, almost as apologetic as Bepo. She also tends to be physical, even if for split seconds... uses people as hunting targets, and now she's picked up mink-brand hospitality both in theory and practice. This girl must have been one of them, or some animal, in a previous life.

He groan-sighs; that spark of patience? These two just managed to raise it from the dead. Somehow. The mood swings devoured his energy to try and push away or even to just get worked up again about the affection of a still-kind-of-a-stranger, though. Now, hold on, my dude... try to not embarrass yourself by falling the fuck asleep in this incredibly comfortable and safe-feeling hug roll right now.

"... let go of me, knuckleheads," he grunts, nestling around after the short pause he needed to pull himself together. From the corner of his eye, he can see a very pleased Robin. And Penguin and Shachi slurping away at their own coffee in unison at an incredibly slow pace while staring at him specifically. At least that's what Nami does, who's likely sporting the very same expression as the other two, after all.

They all look so infuriatingly smug.

"So, what I wanted to say... I've just had two cups, but thanks," he addresses Kat a second later as Bepo shambles back to his previous location with an 'aye aye;' the semi-wake Carrot appreciates this and doesn't hesitate to hog double the space than before she got knocked off as soon as he lies down. Chopper sips from his extra sweet mocaccino while also settling back down, and is silently wondering why she even asked for coffee if she was about to take a nap.

Suppressing a yawn with all his might, Law continues: "... and I think I've mentioned it already, but don't do that. The touching." … yeah, he did mention it, albeit offhandedly. Occasional pats and pokes are okay, but he's not gonna list an entire 'Trafalgar D. Water Law's Personal Space: A Rule Book' right now. Or ever, really. People either know their shit or they don't, and get away with shit or they don't, all based on his mood.

"Oh, right... sorry," Kat mumbles nervously as she recalls the vague memory. Never mind, she definitely is as apologetic as his navigator. As she prepares to gulp the rest of her drink down in one go, she stops; "You sure you don't want any?"

He raises an eyebrow. "I am... why do you keep asking?"

"I helped make it," she says, lightening up a bit; "it's vanilla and almond flavored."

Honestly, he keeps forgetting that she actually works in a place where stuff like this is made. All despite having called her 'cafe girl' for the longest time before, and even after their... accident. Then it became just girl, woman, or simply she-slash-her, which did cause the rare confusion when Ikkaku was around or involved in a matter. Anyway, sharing is caring and all that, but that thing there sounds like a sugar bomb. Which may help him out, as his blood sugar levels are not that great at the moment, but at the same time he's not big on vanilla, so... once again, no, thanks.

"Generally, I prefer my coffee black, K...at." Okay, he almost did it again... and why? Good fucking question, and he's _just_ been over this, too... Must be exhaustion. And hormones, perhaps. Will have to watch his mouth a lot for the few hours remaining of this shitty day.

She bites down on her lip to try and hold back the chuckle. "Just say it... say the thing you wanted to say," she smiles, downing the brew.

"Not in a million years."

* * *

inexchangeforyoursoul tumblr com/post/170955844357/you-knew-problems-were-imminent-as-soon-as-the (I forgot about these... at least it's somewhat relevant to the chapter. take it as a belated valentine's thing, I guess)

*insert Twilight parody line at the end*

Me, looking at my imaginary bullet point table: "You know what would be a good idea? To have a chapter that doesn't have Kat's PoV at all... and name it after her... _Yeah._ "

(Note: as I REEEALLY need to start working on my BA thesis due around the end of April, this project will likely get totally sidelined. Or speed up because of my procrastination skills. We'll see. After all, I have like 5x0.5 chapters lying around (and about 2 that are finished) and just need to add pacing fillers and patch things up.)


	21. Once upon a dream (and sad ones)

Kat takes a quick look at the underwater window; it's already nighttime. She should pull herself together soon and stand up, no matter how comfortable the edge of the bed is right now. The room's also perfectly cozy in this rare moment, she could nod off if she doesn't watch herself... especially since she's actually lying across the thing. Don't fall asleep again, man. Put that watch down for a sec, if you have to, and three, two, one, sit. I said three... two... theeere you go.

As she scoots to the side, she peeks at Law for a sec, too. Apart from one round for a glass of water, he's been perfectly silent and still in his chair all afternoon. From what she sees, he's barely keeping his head up, literally nodding off himself, if he'd allow that. He also had a couple of suppressed yawns earlier. Sympathizing with him here... though she's not exactly tired, it's more of the empty feeling one gets after a long, busy day. Still, her body feels heavy and her head light since she herself was in a limbo a minute ago; Kat gives her cheeks a good slap. How long must it have been, the last time she peeked out the window and it was still kind of evening? Fifteen minutes? Thirty...? Definitely not an hour, that cannot be.

"Just go if you're already this dull," Law moans from over his notebook that hasn't had any new information written into it for a while, then he turns outward. He might have been waiting for her to leave so he can just fall like a log...

"You're one to talk..." She yawns. "Y'ere tired enough yesterday, but today you've been lookin'... really bad." Like, _really_ bad. Now that Kat can take a good look, he's... indeed in a very rough shape. Maybe she shouldn't have mentioned it at all, but she's getting worried, especially now that she's seen his face. Man, it's been a while since she last had bags under the eyes… If she ever pulled an all-nighter, this is probably what it would look like. He looks two minutes from collapsing on the spot...

He sighs, rubbing his temples. "No shit... I wake up frequently in the first place, but today was especially bad. Your body really is not big on these temperatures." It's either that or the 'new' environment, can't blame anything else. Honestly, he may be a rather restless sleeper in the first place, but this extra disturbance really throws a wrench into his routine. The best rest he's had this week was that almost-hour in the hall this morning... partly because it was a dreamless one.

"I also had some shitty dream that just kept going every time I managed to fall asleep?" he groans, having reminded himself of that, too. It was all kinds of annoying. "That the alleyway was in it is one thing... but running late for college? On a _tram_ of all things...? Fuck me, I never even finished _school_ , save used one of those things." Huffing, he closes the book on the desk; he can feel at least four joints in his hand pop at that. His back hurts, too... there's no way he'll get anything else done today, provided he did anything noteworthy at all. At this point, he's just pissed at himself. He leans onto one arm to rest his head, that weighs more and more with every passing minute, on.

Kat, meanwhile... is very much alert, and concerned, to say the least. Because she knows that specific dream pretty damn well. Been a few months, and she thought it might be over already... yet Law did just describe that recurring, anxiety-induced semi-nightmare right now. All of this is looking just as she imagined... oh boy.

"Um... Law?" She blinks over to her bag, then back at him, before reaching inside after short consideration.

He sighs, trying his best to keep his eyelids from closing before being anywhere near the bed. "No need to look at me as if I needed a straitjacket, okay...? I need some rest, is all."

"I know, it's just... I've been having... unusual dreams, too," she says standing up, fiddling a little with the board facing her; he looks up with tired eyes. She's... unsure whether it's an appropriate time to show this to him... Following some hesitation, she does turn it around.

Law squints a little to see the thin-lined doodles better, also getting up from his chair. As he steps forward, his frown quickly changes from general irritation and vague anger into worry, confusion, and maybe discomfort... he almost looks scared. Kat can't help but avert her eyes and stare at his feet instead while fighting the urge to do anything with her fingers that itch for fiddling with stuff; she's feeling very out of place right now.

He reaches out to hold the drawings pinned to the corkwood; as soon as she feels the smallest tug, the object is released and she peeks back up at him.

Most of the wrinkles have disappeared, and he's taking in the little details, as few as there are, one by one. His fingers trace down the paper with a gentleness that she has never seen from him before, or even imagined him being capable of. He seems to mouth a word or two... it's as if she's handed him an old, lost photo instead of a couple of rough sketches, really. The way he looks at them, too... there is... a desolate feeling about it. Longing.

He blinks.

"... you couldn't fake this if you wanted to..."

That voice is also new. She's heard him talk calmly, but this is way softer than that. Thinking about it, this might be the first time she's heard him whisper, isn't it? However, it also feels wrong. Sad... He's hurt, seemingly on the verge of tears. But... she doesn't want to see this person sad... and especially not _make_ him sad. Oh no... _oh no..._

Getting to the bare-bones stick doodle of the gates, he closes his eyes. "... since when?"

While it's nearly the usual tone, it also sounds as if it could break any time... All she can do right now is to enter default anxiety mode and just... spill it. "I saw the first one... when I fell asleep down here."

"How much... did you see?" Good lord, how much could it be...

That question sounds as if she was eavesdropping on purpose or something... Considering that this seems to be very personal and a sensitive issue to Law, it certainly feels like it. "There were... three dreams, I think. I don't remember a lot from the first two, but... today I hung out with that man, in a bright town. Later the buildings turned into white sand... and we played in it."

A bitter smile appears on his face. Of all things... building something like sand castles with him. In that rubble... _on_ that rubble. "A white city, eh...?" Don't cry... barely awake or not, don't you _dare_ fucking cry, shithead.

"... yes. And, uh..." This information... might not even be relevant, but she might as well mention the other... characters? People? "some children joined, too. Most of them had a uniform. First was a little dark blonde girl, with pigtails..." She doesn't remember anything noteworthy about the others...

While generally avoiding to look at his face right now, it's obvious that this bit was indeed important, and must have hit him pretty hard; he hugs the paper support and lowers his head, resting his chin against the drawing board.

"... that went on for a bit, until a man and woman came, to..." She stops. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, _fuck_. Can't just finish the sentence like that, what if they were his parents?! Wait, she thought the man looked like Law. _They absolutely were his parents and whatever has happened he's super upset about this already._ _**FUCK.**_ How the hell can she continue now, if a couple of vague descriptions, about ten lines of a building and the mention of a white... a White...

The scorching coals of distress turn to ice in her chest, and she dares a short look back at him, then stares at her hands that kind of feel as cold as if they were her own. Her thoughts take a quick detour to do simple math, then from one old memory scrap to another, followed by some anecdote fragments in a collection she read that was not for her age at the time.

She doesn't like the idea. It's not her place to inquire about this, if true. Think anything about this, if true. Maybe, just maybe, it's not the truth at all. It's so extremely unlikely, after all. It still does feel like she stumbled upon a terrible secret. Forbidden knowledge. Because... she knows why that place was familiar. And it would just make perfect sense, if, by chance...

"I remember... the newspaper from that day," she says finally after swallowing hard, squeezing out the words one by one, feeling their weight. It's one of those memories that just flash in front of her from time to time; when she's sitting in the kitchen in the golden hour, or having apricot jam on bread, like back then. In this one, she's barely eight... looking at pictures in a paper. The old, crackling denden mushi is receiving the only radio signal available, the news are just about over. They repeated something that's been a topic for a week or so. There's... an image of a town, labeled as an archive photograph...

"It was headlines. I didn't read the article, wouldn't have really understood anyway, but... I remember the photo... of a big building. And the fence in front. That's what it is... that's the place I've been seeing... right?"

He's as still as a statue. There's some noise, something between a hum and a whimper, hard to decide... he nods after some delay. Kat is at a loss as to how she could proceed, if at all... saying more would be awkward; leaving would be even more so… doing anything, even existing, is awkward. In the end, Law's the one to break the silence.

"I was sick… with nowhere to run. Didn't even know who to blame, I just wanted to take revenge on anything... and everything." After the hastily uttered train of thought gets out, he takes a deep, shaky breath. Fuck it, she already _knows_. He gave away the missing critical pieces to an incomplete puzzle, like the utter tool he is. Most he can do right now is to tell her whatever seems... safe. Just enough to satisfy her questions, barely enough to let this issue die right here. It's just...

Putting an end to _that_ a few months ago is still so fresh in his mind. It made him rethink a lot of things, and just generally think of that godforsaken day a lot again... old wounds were ripped open, and they are not done healing, not at all. He's been trying to just cover it all up until this alliance business dies down for good, and right now there is only a mess of strong feelings with no coherent thoughts attached. It's hard... finding words for it right now is just too damn hard.

Law reaches out; Kat is too puzzled figure out what to do, or how she should interpret the gesture, so she doesn't stop the unsure, icy fingers from barely tapping her chest.

"He was the one... who saved me," Law breathes, lowering the drawing board in his other hand.

It takes Kat a second to remember that right under the T-shirt is the center of his big tattoo, pretty much the image of the Heart Pirates' jolly roger. The only 'he' she can think of... and that's kind of like that one smile she saw today, isn't it. And there's the heart motive, buried under either smoke or fire... "... the man in the feather coat..."

He hums; he's not touching her anymore, but his hand hovers over the spot for another moment.

Kat meanwhile regrets not waiting with her dumb question until a more suitable time a lot... and is also getting choked up. It's not even because of an episode after a long time spent in comfortable numbness, or that seeing sad or miserable people makes her restless, especially if she's attached to them... it's rather that, if nothing else in particular stuck with her from that frigid, snowy dream, she remembers the feeling very well. It was a lot like the one she had as a little girl, of her mother being hypnotized and abandoning her. Never saw the end of that recurring nightmare. She always woke up after the person responsible, -the local shopkeeper, for some reason,- just laughed and laughed at her misery... All in all, it felt like shit. This man also must have died, or else Law wouldn't be like... this. Quite frankly, just remembering the name of Flevance and connecting it to the crumbling sand town caused a visceral reaction she cannot put anywhere. This body never really let go of Law, did it...?

As his hand starts to slip away, she reaches for it intuitively; it just seems... the logical thing to do? Except it's not, not really. He doesn't even like things like this... God, she's also been exhausted mentally with all these people around, and even wasted more energy on this silly hug business, zeroing her leftover sense of self-awareness. Oh well... if she's already at it, and thinking about it, there's one semi-logical step left. It's normal to do that in these situations anyway, so...

Kat takes a hesitant step ahead, and pulls him once again into a gentle one-armed hug: just a bit tighter, and a bit less awkward than the previous one. The hand she took a second ago is raised back up to roughly where Law's own heart would be and she's holding it so carefully as if it were made of something really brittle, like an actual shard of thin ice. Also can't help but note that her body is exactly a head shorter than his... will have to resist the temptation to lean into the curly hair, even if it's inconveniently tickling her neck right now.

Law really wants to be angry, or anything other than tired and empty, really, but the half-hearted attempt is a complete failure. Instead, the only emotion he can muster is deepest shame; normally, he'd just brood down here alone, maybe cry into his pillow, but... he's not alone right now, and needs this. Really badly. Someone to latch onto, like a gross attention leech... And it feels _so damn great_. She's also rubbing his back a little, and may or may not have just lowered her chin onto his head. This is nice, so, if only for a little while… okay, this should do it... the few seconds of self-indulgent cuddling are over. He takes a deep breath to calm down and try to pull himself together as she mumbles something into his hair that he can barely make out.

"You are such a brave and smart boy..."

His heart swells upon hearing that, and he feels the first tear break free from under strict supervision; she probably didn't even mean to say it out loud, and the rather infantilizing nature of the statement aside... although it's part of the problem, really... her soft-spoken demeanor just makes that voice sound a lot like his father's. A little too much. There comes the first hiccup, soon followed by many more...

Kat drifts back to reality upon hearing the first sob, and finds herself unsure what to do again; she has no idea how to handle a situation like this. Did she ever have a crying person around when she did something past just... standing in a corner and feeling bad herself? At any time? What did... what did her parents do, how did they calm her down? They... what they did was... there's... nothing. They humored her for a minute, maybe. When it was just a scratch, told her that it's no big deal. All she remembers are the times they made her cry over something stupid instead... being straight-out terrified at times, going as far as hiding the shards of a broken vase or mug in the cluttered backyard. Even when she stepped into an old nail, she didn't tell a thing, although she was old enough to know that she ought to get tetanus vaccination afterwards.

She can feel anger boil its way up her throat; god, just... in how many ways did growing up with those people fuck her over...? No... no, no, no. No thinking about that, she has someone else here, and they need some kind of help or support. But she's so useless... augh, maybe she shouldn't be here at all right now...

"Law... do you want me to leave?" At least she can't do any harm with that...

The answer is not exactly direct, but a whimper like that sounds like a 'no' in any situation. If that wouldn't be enough, his hand also curls around a wrinkle of the tee.

Kat sighs, releasing his hand and wrapping her now free arm around him instead; she also takes the board before he drops it, and tosses the thing on the corner of the bed, near where the wobbly book pile is. What else could she do now, though...? She doesn't really have a sure means to calm him down... maybe... maybe she could sing, or rather hum something, stay until he falls asleep. Let's see, it has to be something soft... and preferably not holiday-related. There's not a lot that she knows perfectly by heart, though. Oh god... um, maybe that one, the one her mother sang to her and her brothers after going to bed, until she just stopped doing it one day. Which was quite a shame, really; she loved it a lot. Seems like she can still remember the tune, too... alright.

While she was contemplating, her right hand wandered up to his scalp and is absentmindedly scratching away at his nape ever so softly. She stops for a split second upon noticing, but resumes just as quickly- he hasn't said anything, nor reacted, so it should be okay. In fact, it seems to be doing a pretty good job... Law's less tense, and his breathing less erratic already. Alright, he should be fine in a few more minutes; shushing will be fine for now. As soon as he's down to sniffling, she leads him to the bed to sit.

Since he doesn't seem to be letting go of the t-shirt any time soon, she joins him with one hand still on his back. Maybe five motionless minutes pass before she takes a look at him; he's barely conscious leaning against her, isn't he... whether it's just to avoid stressful dreams or being on autopilot, he's still not willing to let himself fall asleep. What a stubborn oaf.

She sighs a little, and concentrates on a single note before humming the old song, after all. The last thing she kind of remembers before drifting off is thinking about how to lay him down without waking him.

* * *

Today's #mood be like mspaintadventures com/?s=6&p=005143

I'll try to churn out one more before I go on a forced hiatus, just so it stops on a less depressing note... that aside, story time!

So... I have zero connection to America. Live in the area where West and East Europe meet, in the middle of nowhere basically. And yet, I remember coming home when I was 10, and the TV showing some 3-hour news special on 9/11. The single suspended mental image of the television showing one of the planes before impact as I throw my backpack down before I go eat just stuck with me. There are many other little things, like the marzipan lion from my brother's first birthday cake hanging out in the kitchen window for months (I was barely 2 then, like? holy shit); seeing the few drops of blood on the concrete after a kid named Márk hit someone in the face in kindergarten as they cry in the background; the moment I saw a thick snake slither at my feet as I wanted to go down to the cellar outdoors around 4th grade (I've felt uneasy down there ever since, was a favorite before)... They are 3D photographs of minuscule length if any... as a visual type, I might have more of these than the average, but it's amazing that billions of people, if not everyone, has these lying around in their brains. Humans are wild, man.

Anyway, I remembered that, and decided to put something similar in here. Same for the song, which is the main motif of "Esti Dal" aka Evening Song. (quote-unquote best version I could find rn was this flash mob /watch?v=b055cHvLgtk) Kat's a semi-self-insert, after all.

ps.: The universe is a cold, uncaring place, and remembering is the most powerful FUCK YOU at your disposal, and erasing memories of someone or something is the most cruel punishment you can impose- all I'm saying is, that the least you can do is share these memories in some way or form. Go write something, you tool. And me, too. Yes you, I know you'll be reading this in a few weeks again to check where you left off when you last were unmotivated to continue. And yes, you did indeed write the commentary for... whatever chapter this is before finishing 19, bitch. I see you. _Shia LaBeouf that shit. JUST._ _ **DO IT.**_


	22. Uncomfortably numb

Kat's consciousness phases back into reality from nondescript oblivion; the first thought that crosses her mind is that the room is a notch too warm... and that for some reason, there are no covers on her. Then she notes the low hum that's been pretty much ever-present in the past days. But, uh... wait a sec...

What she can see in the underwater twilight helped by a single, near nonexistent light at the door towards her back is not that much, but she didn't even have to open her eyes to know that she's not in her bedroom or on the floor with the girls. This vaguely musky smelling bed with the soft cover on it is in Law's room. And the warm thing next to her extended arm is... yep, that's her body, alright.

He's fast asleep.

She draws her arm back carefully, not moving a muscle otherwise. Now that she's awake, she can recall waking up a few times before... well, that was to be expected. It's warm in here, there's constant noise, and she hasn't had any living being curled up close to her for... almost two decades, if not more. The closest thing she can think of is the one really huggable pillow resting on her windowsill; her first purchase after moving in. She didn't exactly plan on falling asleep right here, either... Oddly enough, she still feels rested, unlike when she wakes in the dead of the night, listening to the static silence of her room in hopes of falling back asleep and being a functional human being at daytime.

As Kat's eyes get accustomed to the lighting, she can make his face out. Seeing Law's peaceful expression makes her realize just how much he scowls all the time. He only seems to forget about brooding when surprised or having fun... well, as much as he has fun. Or can have. Considering what she's learned, it is not that big of a surprise. She doesn't see people from her life in her dreams, regardless of how she's feeling, and even when they do appear, it's only to be in the way. Law, however... he's haunted by them every so often. He must be missing them a lot... she managed to upset him quite a bit, didn't she.

Musing about, she starts to reach back out on a whim towards his face, to tuck away one of those pesky locks of hers, but she barely moves as an alarm clock goes off direction book pile. Well… explains how he always knows the time, huh.

It sounds quite muffled and 'hoarse,' if that can be said about a clock; just loud enough to rouse the average man from dreamland. Law, for one, frowns immediately like any light sleeper would, and slides his right hand up his temples, also shoving the distracting hair up and rubbing his available eye while at it. He then lifts said hand a bit... and groans a second later, because of _course_ the thing won't just pop into his hand as it should.

He turns on his back to reach straight for the thing in the pile of junk and sighs in relief as it's put out of its misery, turning back on his side with a yawn. All in the laziest way possible, moving as little as he can. Never even bothered to open his eyes. He soon returns to rubbing them with his palms, then stretches with a whimper.

Kat can't keep herself from smiling anymore; his movements are very... cat. The temptation to scratch him behind the ears is quite big. He cracks his eyes open before she could do so and blinks a few times.

"Morning, princess."

" _Wha-_ " Law jumps from that resting position like a feline who just spotted a vaguely snakey object nearby, but remembers what's going on a split second later and his alertness fades into somber tiredness. "Oh..." He rests his face on an arm for a few seconds before sitting up with a sigh, then pushes himself to the edge of the bed.

Kat blinks; considering the situation, she's a little worried. "... are you okay?"

"... Yeah, just..." He drags both hands down his face; "sorry for... having had to deal with... that." He can't _believe_ he didn't let her leave when she asked... the girl's as gentle as a lamb, if she wasn't this capricious, she'd be two steps away from the ultimate doormat that's Baby 5. She's been sticking to pretty much every outrageously stupid thing he's ordered her do before, of _course_ she would play along this time, too. Jesus, what was he even _thinking_?!

"... it's okay." She understands. There are some days when you just need to do... that.

He just sits there for maybe another minute. "... I seriously envy you," he says then; "I never get to have pleasant dreams about my family." There haven't been any in the past seventeen years, at least. Corazón does pop up in nicer ones, but Lamie and his parents...

She's bummed to hear that. "... sorry..." Thinking about it... she never mentioned who the two people were, and where the couple were taking her and the little- oh, her... she actually gave some description, didn't she. Being her sister must not have been a dream fabrication, after all...

"Don't be stupid," he moans, looking back at her. "you had no say in what the hell my idiotic brain or whatever was showing you in the first place. There's nothing to be sorry about."

She lets out a little hum with some delay, feeling suddenly very much out of place lying about. Speaking of which... "Um, what's the time?"

He's staring into the nothingness in front of him again and suppresses another yawn with moderate success. "...'ive thirty."

… that's, like, really fucking early. For her at least. But she's wide awake already... this day might get hella long as it drags on. "... well, then... I don't think I'd be able to sleep, even if I wanted to." Would be very awkward with him awake, or around at all, too. With that, she also drags herself to the edge of the mattress. Her shoulder is starting to act up again; this better not be what she suspects it to be, or so help her.

Law meanwhile gets lost in his thoughts, hunching over his knees; as soon as he'll be more awake, this whole thing will sink in and get all kinds of embarrassing. He lifts a hand again to drag it down half his face. Spending time around her could become a series of awkward encounters from now on. And let's not even get started on the embarrassment that might, and definitely will, come with everyone talking about Kat having stayed down here. Even if she's not noticed idling this early on board of the Tang, her current roomies, more specifically Nami, and _especially_ Carrot, are gossip bombs waiting to happen.

And handling her after the mumbling and having noticed _that_ other little detail in the afternoon… he's not sure what to do. First things first, he'll have to ignore the mirror altogether... Don't think about it. It's an off-chance weird coincidence, shit happens. Everything else is just you projecting. Don't.

Kat kind of wants to poke him in the shoulder, but has no idea what to say afterwards, so she decides against it before getting the finger anywhere near him. Sitting around at all feels weird now, too, so she just decides to start up the usual morning routine; toilet, washing, combing... whatever does not fall out because of redundancy. Or gets inserted in between, like shaving; might as well handle it now, while it's on her mind. She'll have to stall a bit before going for the cocoa anyhow, it's way too early to bother anyone with that.

Upon returning to the room (and being way too careful with the doorhandle, no lie,) she finds Law still sitting where she left him about twenty minutes ago. The only change she can see is that he's leaning somewhat lower on his arms now and has locked his fingers. His thoughts are obviously miles away from here... something about the overall image, including the lighting, reminds her of some piece of art she saw in the university building.

Catching herself staring after a solid minute, she tiptoes in with uncertainty; there's way too much time on her hands right now and has no idea where to go and what to do. Maybe she could doodle something, but the drawing board... is all across the room. She doesn't really want to disturb him.

After a little while of her standing around and looking at random objects, he sighs and buries his face in his palms. The action makes Kat reconsider going over, and following some hesitation, she stealth-walks her way to him, then sticks her finger out and pokes him gently in the shoulder at last.

He just groans. It's more of a mildly disgruntled not-this-again groan than anything remotely sad, though.

It puts a small smile on her face; a crabby little princess~ Fighting the sudden and very intense urge to give his first share of a Kat-brand bear hug, she leans into the curls instead.

"... hey, _hey!_ " he jolts up at that a split second later, protesting in mild panic while covering up his temples. "No...! Kisses!" What the hell?!

Kat holds her nose since he bumped into it, and is a little surprised at the reaction, but soon enough she snorts. She wasn't even trying to do that, though it could have been a close call for all she knows. "If you always react like this, you will get all of the kisses." Because this is adorable as heck.

What did he bring upon himself...? An entire mountain of embarrassment he can foresee in the future even without sufficiently developed observation haki is what it is. And who's to blame once again? Him... at least it could be just general morning haze on her part. For the love of all that's left holy, please be that.

" _No,_ " Law repeats with a strict face and more emphasis, pointing at her as if she were an unruly puppy.

She's somewhat disappointed by that, having envisioned a number of stupid little scenarios already. While she's not obligated to follow that No, it would feel wrong to do anything after explicitly being told not to. Fiiine... "Okay, okay... sorry, sheesh," she pouts.

"..." Maybe he just missed it until now, but now that he's paying attention, that word really is popular with her, isn't it.

"... what?" she asks as he keeps staring.

"... nothing." He's already getting on his feet with a sigh, also making his way out. "I'm going to guess you won't have breakfast just yet, but, since you're already here…" he stops at the doorway; "...might as well catch up on some of that skipped practice, will you?" he asks, turning back towards her.

This deflates her mood even more. Icky, icky practice… She does hum reluctantly after a second of sulking, though.

"... thanks." With that, he closes the door.

Kat stares down at her feet; hearing that just made her feel straight-out bad. He really has no reason to thank her, especially not for... this. She takes an unwilling look at the piece of furniture and the stuff on it, then steps closer to take a look at the heaps of boxes, notice blocks, and other garbage, which have all collected some dust since her initial arrival. She slides some fingers across a bigger lockable, leaving a visible trail. Time flies, doesn't it… what day is it again?

On Sunday… she visited her rented houselet with Law, and had that awkward lunch. Monday was… rather nondescript. That was the one with the aquarium adventure, because on Tuesday she snuck out with Luffy and Usopp, and she talked with the girls about the fair before that. Then she met up with Law and had… a rather legit not-date with him. It was just regular hangout shenanigans until that… alley thing. She had a look at Robin's finds… then that interesting talk with Jinbe, too. So, that also must have been the day she almost bumped into Fugu… she has yet to enter the dining room since. Then, yesterday, when she hugged just about everyone she came across… must have been Wednesday, and this is Thursday morning.

A finger slides down from the top of the box, forming a dust cross; Friday, Saturday, Sunday… she has four days- no, less than four days left to handle this in time. Four...

She sighs; counting down was a terrible idea. She doesn't think she can succeed within this time limit, and now she automatically feels like giving up entirely instead of trying at all. This is not an assignment she can just postpone by asking nicely… Fuck.

At one point, she can hear the muffled sound of the bell tower outside; it must be 7 o'clock. The blood turns cold in her veins; how... did she spend about an hour just standing around here…?

Law will be so disappointed.

She looks at the pocket watch and, just… picks it up. Turns it about 45 degrees… and slides it near the edge of the block so its position is different in every way. Making it look as if she did something.

This ruse is so pointless.

The other day, she thought about how long it had been since she was angry with herself. Now it's time… to be disgusted with herself again, huh.

As she's floundering up to the door with a sweater, Law comes back from his long trip; been to more places than the bathroom, she guesses. He does notice that something about her is off.

"You look... pale. Are you alright?" he asks with notable worry in his voice.

"... yes, I just need my cocoa," she mumbles, scratching away at her neck; she stops immediately upon noticing. Fuck, she… hasn't done this in the past days at all, has she? Relapsing again… try to divert yourself, find something to do… think of the cocoa. Join up with the girls, talk to people, forget about feeling shitty.

"..." Law is suspicious of her vaguely confused state and avoiding eye contact to a high degree. The corner of his mouth twitches, but he keeps the next question to himself. "Go, then."

She nods, and he leaves the door open for her.

"... I"ll be back at 8," Kat adds poking her head back before closing it.

"Keep at it, will you," Law sighs while sitting down to his desk.

She nods; that's one promise she can definitely keep. That is, unless something highly unlikely happens, like getting kidnapped by aliens, or killed by a very stray bullet, or just… well, talking way too much is not that extraordinary, is it, now.

Stepping out of the submarine, she can see that the sun is still not quite up yet. It's also eerily silent outside... being out this early makes the whole world seem like a liminal space. She spaces out for a bit while watching the dark waves under the purplish skies, then drags herself up on board the Sunny. As soon as the sun peeks out from behind the horizon and the rays hit the crow's nest, she can hear a violin being tuned in and some of the guys already rampaging in the kitchen; the uncertainty of the moment is immediately dispelled with the already familiar routine kicking in, which lifts some of the oppressive weight from her.

"I never saw you arrive or leave, what happened?" Nami asks as they sit down to the table; Kat bumped into them right as her and Robin left the bedroom. She lowers her voice a bit and asks almost jokingly, "Did you spend the night over, or what?" Now _that_ would be unexpected, considering Mister Too Cool For You.

"... Kinda?" Like, technically? She did. Not in the way Nami implied, nor in one anybody would guess, but yeah. "It's a little complicated, but..." Kat breaks the sentence off; this seems... inappropriate. "... actually, you better ask him." It's not her place to tell them anything about Law's life. After all, he is rather secretive even towards his oldest friends. "It's too personal for me to be just spreading it around."

Nami is really surprised at her pretty much confirming her question with a 'yes,' then also at the second part of the answer. "Well... if you say so..." After a sigh and short consideration, she adds "In that case it's a dead matter. He wouldn't talk if we held him at gunpoint." '...and you're apparently not involved,' she adds for herself while slurping the much needed coffee. Oh well.

Kat cracks a smile. "True..." The only reason he told her anything is because she was already at the answer. And... so that she doesn't come to stupid conclusions, probably.

"I'll take it you managed to break the ice?" Robin asks between two sandwich bites, joining the conversation.

"I guess... yeah?" She shrugs halfheartedly after taking a sip of cocoa herself. She feels she found just another ice layer, with a vague hint of what's underneath… and maybe even more ice between the two. "I kind of wish I didn't, though." Honestly, it might just make communication harder from now on, which was decent at best thus far, so it is likely to be a bad thing. Especially because she is… a lazy fuck. Lying around again to hide it, and also to put him at false ease. She was supposed to be over this, goddammit. As soon as he catches on, he'll be extra mad...

The woman takes a curious look at her. "How come?"

"I unwillingly opened a big can of worms, okay?" she sighs, sipping some more and picking the last piece of some fruit cake to nibble on for once. The woozy period is over anyhow, and she's gotten peckish.

"I see..." She doesn't pry more, and concentrates on her black coffee.

Breakfast is more… silent than usual. As far as Kat is concerned at least; Robin and Nami are not in a chatty mood, Carrot ran out pretty fast and her and Franky started making quite a racket outside to Jinbe's dismay by the sound of it (did something blow up…?,) Usopp and Chopper are planning a prank on the now napping Luffy for devouring their cheesecakes yesterday, and Zoro and Sanji are, once again, trying to one-up each other for whatever reason. Today's topic seems to be whose poster picture is cooler, as the bounties themselves have been equal for weeks. She will never understand people like them, that is to say, these specific kind of men. Just… nitpicking men. Surely there must be women out there who are like this, but she's yet to witness it.

She sighs while fighting the urge to roll her eyes. Everything just seems… a bit off today. It could be that she got out of bed on the wrong side, or is hung up about the evening, but… ugh.

Kat looks for another piece of something on the cookie-slash-pastry plate; she doesn't feel like picking something salty, raisins are still a no-no, frosted stuff is too sweet, especially hard frosting… there are some legit biscuits, too, though. She already has chocolate in her cocoa, so what about those plain ones…?

She picks one that has likely almond bits poking out of it, and another one that is some different type; latter tastes very vaguely sweet. There's ones with pinkish and yellowish hues of the same kind on top… strawberry and vanilla flavoured, mayhaps? She guesses these are rice crackers... He tends to pick rice over other stuff, no? Maybe she should bring some along...

* * *

When it rains, it pours, aka when depression and his besties, dissociation and executive dysfunction, all hit you at once like a truck, and just one of those is a bitch to live with. And hey, I have electronics to work on comfortably again… but end of semester rush is onto me instead. Then, there will be the last exam period, and the final exam... Sigh. Oh well… it may be short, but the next chapter-like thing is also pretty much done, so… enjoy these till' the drought hopefully ends.


	23. Day 5

29th October, Thursday

 _Skill progress:_ _As per usual, I've yet to report anything new on her part as far as Shambles are concerned; even if I wanted to make observations, her combining teleportation with levitation during practice makes examining her progress, which was based on the state of the practice subjects initially, really hard to do. Might want to instruct her to do more complicated things I've planned, i.e. putting things into boxes she cannot see into and such instead. If nothing else, I could get a more detailed picture._

 _As for Takt, the technique is similarly uninteresting, she has little room for development anyhow. I hear she was playing around with water the other day before her little discovery, that's all there is to it. I have no doubts that she could lift all the junk in town or something the size of Moby Dick and do whatever with them if she really wanted to. She has yet to accidentally fry or scan someone or something, so no news there, either._

 _As for her own shenanigans, she seems to have put this audiovisual trickery on hold for the time being, at least I haven't seen her fool around with that in the past 24 hours. Her attention span is as fickle as ever. However, since jotting down the most likely theories behind it, I've been thinking whether it could be made a tool for medium-distance communication, maybe even into a somewhat classified channel, and also whether I can get it to work from both ends. It is, of course, also a decent way to disorient the enemy, similarly to what Cora could do. Will have to try it myself once I get back into my body._

 _Health:_ _Still rather tired, but I've had some sleep at last. Hard to tell whether it's the sleep deprivation or the hormones that cause, or rather caused, the emotional rollercoaster in the past days. I've also failed to mention that there's been no more cramps since making sure I stayed hydrated, and at this point I doubt the issue will resurface. The amount of blood has also become miniscule by now, which is a little surprising, seeing how much of it there was in the first two days, but I'd be stupid for complaining. She may have a shorter ovulation cycle to balance it out, but this whole segment is irrelevant for the purpose of this diary._

 _If I'm already rambling about barely related things, though, I might as well mention that after some lapse, I had another breakdown. She was right here, witnessed all of it. Enough embarrassment for the rest of the year, if not more; at least I feel less stressed, so it won't be happening again any time soon, or so I hope. I'm still kind of tense, because she is now privy to some personal info, which... sucks. Will see how we'll handle each other from now on, and also how she can handle keeping her own rambling mouth shut._

 _Regarding Kat, I've yet to notice any of my usual symptoms still. She does not complain and seems generally lively whenever not bored to death. From what I've gathered, she eats less than I usually do, and she also doesn't have my workout sessions, of course. (Which I've also been neglecting, but that's beside the point.) The two factors balance each other out, so it's yet to become a problem I have to consider, but if this situation keeps up for more than two or three weeks, I will have to drag us both out to exercise, teach her some swordsmanship, and stuff her after each occasion if I have to. Can't look the other way for too long, for my own sake._

 _Back on topic: this far into the adventure I should mention that I've yet to experience any of the usual pains, which is not that unexpected, I guess; her body may be sensitive to some changes like temperature, and a little undernourished, but she's also not sickly by nature. Overall, it could be that the pain ceased to exist for as long as she inhabits my body, that is to say, this could be a side effect to our benefit. As unlikely as it would be, that is, since there is zero logic to back it up, especially after yesterday. It would be easier and advisable to just ask her, but since she seems unaffected, I'd rather not bring up the topic unless necessary._

 _Other:_ _An additional complication came up, which is also the reason I'm tempted to ask about her wellbeing. Namely, she's had some of my nightmares, which are common side effects of both stress and my condition. She reported three cases, one from yesterday (during regular sleep, I assume,) one in between the other two instances, and one from... Sunday. These were the 28_ _th_ _and 25_ _th_ _respectively, the first one being the impromptu nap she had due to exhaustion, heat, low oxygen levels, and whatever else. At least two seemed to feature the hospital from how she put it, and Cora and/or my family also appeared. Either way, I must have been experiencing the phenomenon as well, considering how uncharacteristic, and quite frankly, stressful and surreal my dreams have been lately. Let's call this a subconscious memory or experience leak of the body, for a lack of a better expression. From what I know right now, I'm greatly reminded of the notes I've stumbled upon while I had some access to the navy's database and the Punk Hazard documents, about the odd transplant patient out there having picked up random, small habits of the donor, such as craving specific drugs or foods they previously disliked or never even had before, or, in one particularly interesting case, becoming an acrophobiac. I haven't changed my diet or anything in that vein, nor do I have cravings or fears that are out of the ordinary, but this ought to be something similar. Will take further notes as necessary and may start a separate segment for odd dreams if they become relevant._

 _p.s.: I think I also came to understand what caused me to do the stupidest blunder in my life, and not only does it make the situation no less embarrassing, but it's also incredibly creepy of me. Insider jokes aside, I do need fucking therapy. Goddamn._

* * *

In case you were wondering what he's been doing at his desk when not being neck deep in anatomy, pharmacology, overthrowing the system, and the likes...

As for extras: inexchangeforyoursoul tumblr com/post/173960910322/truly-the-finest-specimen


	24. Grandma: on

"Iiiin time…!" Kat huffs while swoocing by the beaten doctor's suitcase that is slowly making the doorway its permanent residence, before the bell tolls would announce 8. Taking a few deep, slow breaths to get her pulse back down, she looks back over to Law, who seems… to not have noticed her, somehow.

She tiptoes over with the thermos and extra carefully held package of crackers in her hand; he's writing something… well, has been writing something. He just finished by the looks of it.

"... what are you planning?" he drawls in a suspicious tone and she freezes with one foot still in the air.

"... I'll take... you did notice me arriving, after all," she concludes. Honestly, would have been weird if he did not.

"There's no human being capable of sneaking down those stairs at such speeds, you know." They'd need to be levitating, passing through solid matter, be faster than sound itself, have Cora's powers, or be some kind of more intangible logia user. Then again, she _can_ levitate, and he also just wrote that his fruit can imitate the Calm Calm fruit's effects as well… she just didn't think of using either.

"That's what I thought," Kat nods, taking the leftover few steps up to him. "But considering the ferocity you tend to be writing with, I had some doubts, you know." Whenever he's got a pencil or quill in his hand, he's into it… like, _really_ into it. One can basically feel the dots and short strokes hitting the desk. She has to wonder how often he needs new writing utensils.

As she tries to look at the notes, Law reflexively covers up a good chunk of the page. She does a little thoughtful grimace, then looks back to him with the ghost of a smile creeping in. "... is this top secret, a diary entry, or… maybe about me?"

It… is. Why the fuck did he do that again…? Oh, right, he wrote about withheld information, and… also started speculating on her lady issues, which is probably something he should keep to himself. Basically, it's all of the above. Hm. Save the situation... state the basics. "... A diary on your progress, if you are that eager to know."

"... that sure is a lot of words for a whole lotta nothin' to report," she muses while looking back at the filled-out sheet of paper, apparently taking the answer seriously. The date she can see at the top is the current one… all that's underneath is stuff he just wrote. Holy shit.

He chuckles, then lowers his hands a bit so the first few lines are visible for her to confirm. "Sometimes I wonder how I don't bother dragging you at all, but then you immediately remind me that you're doing that yourself just fine," he states, shaking his head a little.

"You could have just told me that the paper blocks were for examining my nonexistent progress, you know," Kat replies while pulling at a lock a few times; hearing his semi-laugh feels like a breath of fresh air in the permanently stuffy room.

"Are you telling me it would have made a difference?" Law asks, leaning onto his left arm.

She looks to the side. "... as you put it at times: 'touche.'"

"Yep… Anyway, no progress is still something to report if I'm going to take this seriously. As are theories, ideas, new tricks, and problems. Not gonna lie, you give me a lot to work with, keeping me rather busy in my down time." He sighs. "Either way, you kept your motivation afloat for a while by spicing it up a little, so there's that. Don't worry about it." Maybe if he spells it out for her, she won't... Concentrating on not being able to do something will just impede her. While he had much more pressing matters than being in the wrong body at the time, he himself wasn't too keen on practice when stuck or at a dead end. Bepo and the boys helped a lot with distracting him from that annoyance. Kat's very fluctuating accuracy must be just as frustrating. He's not blind; the girl loathes being stuck with that shitty task and can only do it for a while if she's bored beyond annoyance in the first place.

"... what do you have there, anyway?" Law asks, paying some heed to the crackling packet in her hand at last.

"Oh! Um…" she lifts up the thermos, too; "I've brought some cookies and tea."

He raises a brow. Could use a cup of tea, if nothing else. "Black Leg stuff?"

"You wouldn't want mine, trust me." Although she does nail the tea every now and then. Unfortunately, she tends to turn off her brain for small tasks like adding sugar and lemon, and thus the drink tends to come out Kukari cafe standard recipe, even though she prefers it less sweet and more fruity. Cookies end up right… much less frequently, and she doesn't bake them nearly as often. She's yet to sync up a good-tea and good-cookies day.

Hearing that makes him almost burst into another chuckle. "Hard on yourself today, huh?" He takes a look towards the back of the table, looking for a mug in the messy part beyond a boundary made of notes and books.

"I guess… it's true, though. There's few dishes I can make that turn out nice all the time." And even those vary in quality.

"Then you're already better than I am. I get as far as chopping up stuff." Anything past that… oh, boy. He's basically forbidden from entering the kitchen when not being needed.

She cracks a smile. "You're cheating through it, aren't you?" If she could tell a carrot to rub itself and fall into neat little pieces afterwards, she would probably spend more time at the stove, too.

"None of your business," is his response as he flicks her nose, then he reaches towards the hidden back corner of his desk.

As Kat's massaging her nose for the second time that day, she can see Law get a rather dusty looking mug from beneath some sheets of paper. He turns it upside down; there's some paper clips, about half an eraser, and… a dead drain fly falling out of it. He's about as unimpressed at this development as she is.

"This will need a quick washing," he concludes.

"On it~" she sings, already snatching it from him; she stops for a second, though, and grins wide. "You're either secretly in love with teddies… not telling me something… or everything with a bear on it is from Bepo." Potentially all of the above.

"... latter," he states, eyeing the same bear face Kat can see a copy of from the other side.

"..." Hard to decide whether he was too slow with that answer. He _must_ have a stuffed bear somewhere. She just knows it. "Noted."

And if he doesn't, he'll get one eventually, granted.

"Be right back," she nods then, jogging towards the bathroom.

Law stares after her for a while, still a little dumbfounded at the fact that Kat took the mug out of his hand just like that, then checks the crackers; seeing how it's something he'd actually eat, he picks one and bites into it with a thoughtful hum. Dropping off food, stealing his china for cleaning… what has gotten into her?

* * *

Here be today's extras:

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inexchangeforyoursoul tumblr com/post/172447336862/finished-this-incredibly-silly-thing-for-that-very


	25. Grandma: off

"Yeah, these are vanilla flavored," she concludes after Law had her taste the ones with a yellowish hue on them, even though the smell was a dead giveaway.

"You can have those, then," he states as he's nibbling on the remains of an unflavored one.

"You dislike vanilla?" Kat asks, being somewhat surprised at the information. Like, it's a sometimes food, true… but she also won't straight-out turn it down when being offered. Nor does she know anyone who would. Well, didn't know anyone, who would.

"Nope. Once every blue moon I'll accept it, but generally? I don't like vanilla. Nor raspberries, blackcurrants…" He leans back into the chair, thinking about; "... pineapples. Licorice. Green apples and yellow tomatoes…"

"... zoes dis list 'ave an end?" she asks, munching on a vanilla flavored piece.

"... eventually," he nods, then continues in the same breath: "Artichokes, brussels sprouts… aubergines. Caviar. It's a long one."

She swallows the mouthful of crackers. Must be as long as the list of enemies she never received, except it's all villainous food. "I'm also not a fan of a few you just mentioned, but sheesh... didn't realize you were _this_ picky." She doesn't consider herself a picky eater at all, considering how she likes most stuff others turn their noses up to, but him…? That's a _lot_ of items. Sure, most of these would be hard to notice as they are relatively uncommon, but still. Plus there's bread. And raisins. And god knows, what else.

"Now you know. Deal with it," he states, biting into his last plain cracker.

"... you really are a princess." A princess perpetually stuck between Criminal brand and haute couture. She's… tempted to sneak a pea under the mattress.

"And her highness is about to give you new instructions, so get your shit together," he states then, getting up from his seat that's been turned towards the bed for the impromptu tea party. Kat follows him to the chest of drawers just as he motions her to get her ass over there.

"So," Law starts once having some mouth space to work with; "I guess you've already noticed these," he says, opening one of the small chestlets halfway. She nods.

"Today you will try to pop stuff inside them. Take this button, for example," he says, already putting it into her hand; "It's small enough to fit any of these; once you've managed to do that, take them out again. Without looking inside, of course. Start with the biggest one, proceed from there once you've done it without a hitch three times in a row, that is to say, the box remained intact." Having finished the briefing, he stuffs the remainders of the rice cracker into his mouth and digs out the biggest specimen from the bottom of the brick pile.

"..." The explanation was easy enough to follow, but… "I, um… wouldn't it be bad if I cut out too many pieces by accident?" There can be only so many boxes she can ruin and holes that can be made...

"Things you break that way, you can repair yourself… and I have a wee little feeling that you already know how to reassemble stuff. Boxes don't need surgical hands if you mess up, you're good to go. Godspeed," he says as he's stepping back to his chair, swatting her back while at it. He's gonna have another cup of that green tea.

"Oh… okay." Basically, if she was handed a plate broken in two… she could fix it as if it had always been under the fruit's influence, huh? Wow… it seems super logical, but she didn't think of that. Maybe because it would have been a little _too_ convenient, considering all the stuff she can do already. A power that's all kinds of broken, indeed; and one which is, funnily enough, exceptionally good at un-breaking things.

Back to the task at hand, however… it… is kind of a relief that she has to do something else for a change, no lie. Even if it's just the next level of the same task. Well then… attagirl.

As expected and kind of feared, the operation just doesn't happen to be something within her skill range. If nothing else, the sheer challenge that the simple task poses is driving her will to crack the fucking, godforsaken, lousy code already. She's never been so pissed at random inanimate objects before. Not even the croissant from the other day.

She won't be able to pull off the freeing of the button for a while, that's for sure, but she's infuriatingly close to get to the solution of putting the button in without mass producing malformed guitar picks and miniature honeycomb statues, for all it's worth. (Could it be that her desk is actually fixed at home…? It would be nice to know.)

Law meanwhile is checking on her briefly every now and then… and has written some additional shit into this diary thing after a few occasions. For some reason, this doesn't sit all that well with her, but maybe it's just the fact that getting evaluated this way reminds her of elementary school. More specifically, the one art teacher who kept circling across the classroom like a vulture and wouldn't say anything, just write in a seemingly liberal note after the bells rang. It was a lucky dip of fours and the rare five for her; her taste clashed somewhat with hers, but since she was an overall nice and eager girl, the woman let it slide. Others weren't so... well, lucky. This teacher left fairly quickly as a number of parents complained about their otherwise excelling students getting a gracious 3, if not a barely passing 2 at the end of the first year of her work; the staff were also not exactly a fan of her, so there was little fuss. What even was her deal…?

Law waving a hand in front of her face pulls Kat back from the self-indulgent reminiscence.

"... there, _now_ you're paying attention… It's about half past one, if you're hungry, be free to leave. Just come back within an hour or so, okay?"

"Oh, um… alright." Did she not notice him addressing her? Man, that's embarrassing… about as much as her stomach wanting attention all of a sudden and not being shy about it, either. Getting really tired, too… may have been trying too hard? A cup of coffee is in order for sure. She barely even remembers doing this for more than an hour…

The phenomenon is not foreign to her, although usually it's with something she enjoys. It always feels like waking from a nap wondering what day or year it is, except she's wide awake all along. Boy, does she hate when this happens at an inappropriate time.

Law wrinkles his brows in mild worry; she's absolutely out of it. Has been all day, to be honest. "... look, if… if you're like this because of yesterday evening, it's fine. Forget what I've just said and try to get your head clear before you come back instead, alright? You won't be able to work like this, take a walk, or whatever."

She blushes a little and starts fiddling with her thumbs; she's scattered enough for it to be beyond obvious… sheesh. "... okay."

Taking a walk seems definitely the way to go, she ponders over her lunch a few minutes later, still in some kind of trance; she's not up for doodling right now and it occurred to her that singing is a no-no. However, she also doesn't like to err around without a goal. Perhaps she could take a look at the cafe, or get more chestnuts… or… hm, there's been some stuffed animals on display, too, right? That seems to be something worth looking into. She has a stupid plan, after all.

As soon as she hops ashore a little after 2 o'clock, a familiar figure appears en route to the fair; Fugu seems to be returning with quite a lot of groceries.

"Hi," Kat waves awkwardly as they cross paths; she considered going the longer way, but… if he noticed her, too, it would have been really rude, wouldn't it. Take it like the fake man you are at the moment. And in general.

"Good day to you, too, Miss," the man greets her, slowing down a little, which she does herself; "are you going out to shop, too? Or is it just a walk?"

"A little bit of both…. I've been a dunce all day, so Law suggested I unwind somehow," she confesses while rubbing the sideburns, thinking back at the rather embarrassing convo.

He nods solemnly. "It is a good decision to step outside. Spending too much time down there can make one dull fast."

"Can't argue with that," she sighs. Not leaving her room in general is one thing, but cooking pretty much all day below deck in the dark is not something she could get used to on the long run. Travelling on that tin can must suck really bad… honestly, Law should have also come out. How many times has he left that thing since they've been like this? Up to five times? Next time, she's dragging him with her. Seriously, how the hell has he been surviving this in her body?! Anyway… "That sure is a lot of stuff you have, though… don't you need help with that?"

The man cracks a smile, thinking back to some past shopping adventures. "The others don't appreciate me taking my time… and the nagging kind of ruins the experience, you know? Speaking of which, though… I actually am running late today, so I'll be on my way. See you around, Miss, and have a good time!" With that, Fugu is already on his way at double the speed he came thus far to reach his alternate shadow that never met up with her.

"Thanks… same to you!" she waves in vain as there's noone to see the action, also picking up pace. She definitely won't want to walk out all the way to the new docks an hour away, there's nothing to see there apart from new ships and the hill with the pretty houses where rich traders and the odd noble live. The furthest parts of the fair will be about half an hour away, where a small chapel signals the end of the old district, but fast walker on longer legs than usual or not, that also would be a waste of time, to be honest… all in all, she shouldn't be out for more than fifteen or twenty minutes altogether for this. She asked for the coffee to be made for half past two, so she's got all the motivation she needs to get back in time, too.

First things first, Kat lets the nice smells seduce her and she gives into the temptation of another small bag of chestnuts even though she's not really hungry; thankfully, there's someone else there instead of the weirdo from the other day. Passing the notice board, she's surprised to see that two of the more 'famous' teens from the high-class parts have gone missing. Finds it hard to be worried a few seconds later upon noticing that they've not come home yesterday night; seeing how they are troublemakers, spending the night elsewhere wouldn't be much of a downgrade. But apparently, they've told their parents until now when they stayed out after curfew, they must be thinking of the worst, considering the news lately. That's kind of nice to know.

She skims the other stuff; apart from some job offers and wanted posters, all she can find is another notice from the police stating that the group from last Tuesday that's been taken into custody will be given over to a marine ship Saturday afternoon at 8. Kat raises a brow; while they did almost kill-slash-kidnap her and a bunch of people last week, why would they announce this detail… reading on, she comes to a halt with an ' _oooh'_. Alright, she can see the point now. According to their information, former fleet admiral Sengoku will be accompanying some greenhorn marines on the ship. Someone must be a fan. Regardless… she better keep low that day, maybe avoid coming outside altogether. Taking a mental note and swatting the worrisome thoughts about the port town disappearances into little clouds, she moves on. Walking deeper into the cheap stuff, she eventually does notice what she came for: a place with stuffed animals galore.

She takes a quick look around, and her eyes zero in on a really big, white teddy bear in the middle of a pile; it looks exceptionally fluffy. But, is it as soft as it looks? She steps over to it and slides a finger down its arm; yes... yes! That is absolutely the softest goddamn plushie that has ever graced her skin. Or Law's, but who the fuck cares. And it's… oh. Oh, boy. 12000 Bellys. Um… hm. Reconsidering.

As amazing it would be to shove this thing into his face as soon as she arrives… as a one-off prank and a useless gift, this really ain't worth the money. She also really ought to use the huge canvas she bought for like eight a while back, stroking it gently and contemplatively is not gonna get her anywhere. All it will do is drench the cotton in stinky human body oils.

Taking another look around, she spots a few more bears; she slides over most of them immediately, as they do not seem to fulfill her questionable standards regarding this purchase. One's too goofy, another is an unsympathetic, weirdly mixed brown color, and the third… she's not sure what kind of clothing that blinding neon vomit is supposed to be. She eventually spots another round ear hiding behind a pink doskoi panda. She pulls it out and… seems like a jackpot. At least it does look way too determined for an off-white chap with its black and white backpack that can probably fit some cash, and the black shirt. Honestly, if either would be striped instead of what they are, this would look like one really, really proud burglar bear. Well, then… nothing in this pile is over a thousand, so...

Kat approaches the ships with a sprint, knowing that she was already over 15 minutes with this little detour before even starting to browse the teddies. The slalom between the old warehouses is not something she likes because of the drunkards and thugs like those two lost whippersnappers that hang out in these abandoned parts from evening till dawn, and the odd dead body that people find about once a year, but hey… it makes things quick. She sees the mast of the Sunny peek out from beyond the roofs; already there, thank god. Running towards the shore already, she spies a lot of small… somethings around the last corner by the sea. It could be puke... but… nope. She slows down for a moment and squints; it's… sunflower seed shells. At least two average packages worth; someone must have come all the way out here to the two ships last night to sate their need, which looks like a straight-out addiction. Thinking about it, though, not only has she not seen any unsavory puddles, but the area has been really quiet in the past week or so, even if the people on the main street would cover up most of the noise anyhow… perhaps knowing that there are formidable pirates docking nearby has them worried…. or the more frequent patrols during the festival smoked them out at last? Who knows, really; she just hopes that the peace will be felt for a few more weeks. Sleeping by an open window is risky, because she cannot know when people will get too close to her quarters and break bottles or scream… but when they don't, it's the best sleep she can get apart from the very limited warm winter evenings, when she's had comfort food and a long, hot bath she reserves for the occasions. Having actual winter weather when appropriate is nice.

Kat finds it easier to crawl onto the huge ship by boarding the Tang first, since the ladder is somewhat suspended, so she takes the opportunity to have a quick look around for Law; by some kind of miracle, he actually is out here, seemingly sending some of his crew she doesn't know much to do something downstairs in this very moment. One of them has a tool box… maybe something about the engine or plumbing, then.

"What's up down there?" Kat asks walking up to him, with the hand hiding the teddy turned back. She's always found blatant hiding of presents counterproductive… having something in a hand that's not easy to recognize, while still not bulletproof, is the superior strategy by far. The mostly intact chestnut bag being noisy in the other also helps.

"Some pipe seems to be leaking in the showers," Law responds, looking at an accounting book page. If they need to weld in a chunk with a small one, there should be enough stock, but if they'll have to replace it, or even worse, it's the main line… they will have to find a shop. The funds are not looking the best at the moment, though, and he's not gonna ask Nami. Hm… what are the chances that they could scavenge some from these old warehouses…? Would be nice to have Scan available right about now. Maybe he will open a Bepo petting zoo to raise money, this once, and perhaps rope in Carrot as well...

"... is that something that happens often?" How much piping and stuff even is there in this thing? "When underwater?"

"12-18% more likely than on purely surface dwelling ships, pressure changes and all. Still not as bad as when the ventilation croaks eight thousand deep, trust me," he answers, putting the green marker ribbon of the three on the page, then slaps it shut. "And, have you pulled yourself together?" He asks, turning his attention to her, though he's somewhat distracted by the bag.

"..." She kind of wants to hear that story. But not now. "Been a little irresponsible, as you can see," she pokes her head towards the item; "you can snack on it, if you want to. Otherwise, I've yet to drink a coffee to make sure I keep being productive, but yeah… I guess a walk was really all I needed, thanks," she says, trying to keep the smile levels in check. "By the way," aaand there goes the effort, "here."

Just like that, Law gets to see eye to eye with a stuffed bear that looks ready to fight him.

He blinks a few times, brows pulling closer together in confusion and surprise.

"Iiit's for you." The statement starts question-like, then ends sounding matter-of-fact. She… didn't really think this far. And can't read shit from that reaction.

"... for me." She just… she's actually handing him a teddy bear. The fuck.

"Mhm." She nods. "One more for the collection."

"What for?" His perplexed state leaks through his voice. He also grabs the thing so he can see her proper again; can't think of any rational explanation. Unless it's a joke, that is. Certainly sounds like it.

She shrugs. "... just because." There is no real goal to be achieved here. She just wants to drown him in embarrassingly adorable bears, preferably with as many people witnessing it as possible. And watch him struggle with the situation... this is as close as she can get without going bankrupt.

This... doesn't exactly sit well with Law. Because, if he's right about thinking that she's trying to compensate for… whatever, really… this is getting out of hand, no matter the reason. He can feel his pulse picking up pace; she's been doing it all day. The rice crackers, and tea... She doesn't seem to be lying about the chestnuts being an impulse buy, but she just offered them, too...

"... Kat-ya... we need to talk."

Although the phrase makes her uneasy, somehow, the fact that he just used that name again shoos the other feeling to the side. "Oh... did a million years pass already?" she asks with honest wonder. Or... could it have been just 'a thousand years' the other day…? Well, same difference in this case.

He set himself up on that one, didn't he…

Seeing Law's disgruntled face, she adds: "Sorry, sorry... shoot away."

He lets out a sigh. "Look, about this…" he takes a passing look at the bear; "... aggressive attention and care stunt you're pulling... I do appreciate the sentiment, but _stop_. Being stalked by a surrogate grandma is not something I want, ever." Actually, let's just... "Please." He's low-key willing to get on his knees and beg if it becomes too embarrassing for him.

She's somewhat ashamed at his request and just a bit disappointed upon hearing that; "Oh... okay. Sorry."

Law reaches up and pulls at her ear gently, which is followed by the most unconvincing, little 'ow' on her side. "And stop apologizing for every little thing, sheesh. I'm just asking you to moderate yourself and take it down a notch, alright?" A whole 20 notches. She just bought him a goddamn teddy bear, for fuck's sake. One that is, in fact, sporting the same half-determined, half-smug expression he has on quite often. Be it a joke, poking fun at him or something genuine, this is too much. And it's, uh... kind of weirding him out?

He can't even remember the last time someone bought him something tacky that wasn't his crew. Or, well, the Strawhats as of a few weeks back. And he can't really tell her to fuck off because of this whole situation they are locked in. They have already passed the stage where he actually would tell her something like that, having a good idea how hard she would take it, not to mention that it would make everything exponentially worse, and he… frankly, he has no idea how to handle this situation. How do you communicate with those who are not backstabbing, murderous, thieving jackasses, or of generally questionable morals? With, you know… people?

"Okay... then, I should handle you less like a princess, and more like..." she starts after a second, stopping Law's train of thought, then stops herself as well, trying to decide on something less baby-able; children won't do, of course, nor animals, uh... "a flower!" All they need is some light and water... and the occasional fertilizer! Boom!

Law decides to push his little crisis aside for the time being, and suppresses the snort upon being compared to a 'flower.' He'll have to figure out how to act as if he had some fucks to give later. "Both of those comparisons are really weird, considering you're talking about me, you know. But… I guess. If you want to put it like that."

She flashes a big, optimistic smile, which just… doesn't quite fit his face, and never will. Still, it's as if he just gave her a treat for being a good dog. Which is, frankly, quite amusing. He can practically see her wag her nonexistent tail... Pulling her leg from time to time will be tempting. "And? Will you actually be able to keep to it?"

"Sure," she answers, then speaks up again after a few seconds, musing; "Honestly, I just want to... well, see you less morose all of the time, if that makes sense." Knowing what she does now, the memory of him silently laughing at the aquarium while she was butchering his person became a hundred times more pleasant. As is the chuckle from earlier.

… he really should have just let her leave yesterday. This has already gotten uncomfortable, not to mention that it reeks of trouble. "Seriously, Kat… if you are doing this because of what I suspect- which you are, let's be honest,- but even if not… it's still not your job to make me happy."

… saying that out loud feels so weird. It's almost as if he's speaking a foreign tongue.

Her pep goes as suddenly as it came. Partly because, well… Law's right. Still… "I like making people smile and laugh, though," she mumbles.

She's a difficult one, alright. He gives his head a frustrated scratch; "I never said you couldn't try, just... everything has a time and place, okay?"

She grumbles something that must be an 'okay' while nodding. Meanwhile, Nami has appeared over the railing, and calls out to her almost immediately:

"Kat, coffee is ready! You like it with two sugars and milk, right?"

It takes her a second to shake off the embarrassment and address the question. "I do," she replies at last.

"Now go, get that coffee," Law instructs, poking her with the book; "And wipe that frown off your face, brooding is my job, capiche?" Even if he'll be forever weirded out by how his face looks with a genuine smile plastered over it.

She can't help, but crack an awkward smile a that. "Yeah." Another moment of hesitation later, she steps towards the rope ladder.

Law sighs and takes another look at the bear. Now… will this thing fit into the chest with the dozens of others he's gotten throughout the years?

* * *

Have y'all ever tried to draw him with Cora's smile? It's pure nightmare fuel...

Not gonna lie… I wanted to double up on this one and put the next Nami chapter in here so you guys get another long one after all that hiatus. But I see it's already massive, so I'm nto disappointed in myself. :p Anyway, tomorrow I'll get my diploma at last, and, well… time for job hunts, which will go brilliantly, yes. For sure. *sarcasm detected* (I'd want to stream art and stuff on twitch but our connection is ass ._.)

Speaking of which, have today's extra thing: inexchangeforyoursoul tumblr com/post/175615165362/i-cant-fucking-believe-i-had-to-upload-this-to-da

I've also been super unproductive in the past week because I was dumb and reinstalled Sims 3. On the other hand, the game becomes boring if you get married and have most skills maxed, sometimes even after you have kids to power raise on 'no aging,' so there's that. Furthermore, it gave me some silly ideas. (I won't have the chance to work this one in, so: Law got harassed on the phone so much by his coworkers on his "spend time with fiancée weekend" that it was hilarious and looked almost intentional. Penguin and co. absolutely would pull a stunt like that. Not for wanting to hang out, but to ask for progress updates...) (Also I forgot that the game has no curls and fros whatsoever. … ok, there's like one, but you can hardly tell. 0/10, will play architecture and feng shui emulator again)


	26. Shenanigans

As soon as Kat reaches her destination, Nami poses a question immediately; "What was that about?" All she could see was that Law was both mad and… well, confused, while trying his darnest to be civil. Which in itself is a point of interest, just like the fact that her new friend here also seems kind of lost.

Kat sighs. "I've been too," Honestly, how should she summarize this? Uh... "well... nice?"

"Too… nice." On second thought… the navigator feels she shouldn't be surprised that the Heart captain would find that unwelcome. He's not exactly the buddy-buddy type, hell, probably even paranoid.

"Like... I felt kind of guilty for skipping all that practice and being a general nuisance," among other things she cannot talk about... "... so I brought down some rice crackers and tea after breakfast and washed his dusty mug that must have been lying around for months for him," she looks up, slowing down a bit to get her thoughts in order; "We had, like, a tea party. Which was still okay, I guess. After having managed to sit out the new training shit proper, probably looking like a maniac during it all… I definitely overdid it by buying a teddy at the fair for his suspiciously big bear themed collection." It really seems excessive and random in hindsight. "Man, can you imagine I even considered to buy a gigantic one? I couldn't bring myself to pay up the twelve grand, but… _pfff_." she mumbles mostly to herself, putting on a faint smile over the mental image of chucking that monstrosity at him again, then places a hand on her cheek while contemplating the general idea over in vague confusion. She settled for the small one, but... sheesh. On the other hand, she likes being charitable, and it's been too damn long since she had both the financial background and an excuse to buy a gift for someone apart from the obligatory job stuff. Thinking about this makes her want to give a little 'thank you' gift of sorts to both crews… except, well, she ain't got jack as far as ideas are concerned. They already have everything they could need, too.

Nami rolls her eyes upon hearing that. "Geez… it's like you're wishing him a belated happy birthday and he's complaining over the attention. Which… is not all that surprising, I guess," she concludes then with a shrug. "He did the same when we threw him a party before arriving in the country," His main complaint was that he had his private party with his crew a few days back… none can do for Luffy if he wants to party, however. "On the other hand… you _do_ realize that you sound like an overly apologetic boyfriend, right?" Nami muses while returning her attention to her, finding sudden enjoyment over the image of Knight Kat and her grumpy liege.

"Well… he _is_ a princess as far as I'm concerned," Kat nods in agreement. "While I'm not sure his highness would agree, I can see where you're coming from, though," she adds, scratching the sideburns in embarrassment. "I'm… not really good at taking care of anyone or anything in general, no lie. The moons must have aligned, or something."

"You must be underestimating yourself," the other woman states, leading her towards the table with the still steaming drink on it. Sanji must have been here a mere minute ago. "People who have no sense of nurture would never be able to do your job, you know?"

"Work is different," she protests, crossing her forearms in an X, and squints at the back of Nami's head where some small creature seems to be very, very lost in the orange sea; "Because… I know I _have_ to do that stuff, and I must pay attention at least some of the time, you know? If I didn't, I'd get fired. When just home, or hanging out… I get _way_ too comfortable, and next thing I notice after spacing out is that the day is already over. Flowers unwatered and still full of lice or whatever, dog unwalked and unpooped, cat unfed and has knocked everything off the table, and then there's me, also hungry and dirty... Can't just do all of that quick before going to bed, can you?" She sighs. "I'm happy I've gotten far enough to be able to take care of myself, you know." Sometimes she still forgets to eat, or keeps going just one or two more days without the designated bath. It's so… it's beyond embarrassing. And infuriating. Occasionally… even humiliating.

She picks up her cup and stirs the beverage, then downs half of it immediately. A sugar chunk in her mouth and the barely comfortable temperature remind her that she probably should slow the fuck down. Oh well… if she already has half the cube, might as well lick it away.

"... I still think you are selling yourself short, but… can't say I haven't met the problem." Getting started after Bellemere was… overwhelming. Although they helped out a lot since they were little, and there wasn't a lot more extra work to do, neither her nor Nojiko had an idea where to start with the household, even though the villagers cleaned up the mess in the house that Hachi had left behind. The laundry seemed to be more when it was less, the cooking more challenging... even the tangerine grove felt bigger and more intimidating than before. Everything appeared to be more than what it was in reality. When she noticed some work waiting to be done, she handled it on autopilot, but there really was a lot of spacing out while doing stuff. From what she just said, Kat seems to be in a similar state of mind, albeit near permanently. "Either way, that already is something. You talk as if you were worse about it, so there's nothing to be worried about. That forestside cottage won't tend itself once you get there."

Kat lets a smile creep on her face, being reminded of her silly life goals. Nami was listening in on her and Robin's conversation, huh? "I guess… but I'm still eons away from even attempting that." Finishing the sentence, she also finishes her coffee and puts the cup down. Now, let's address that minor annoyance that's been bugging her quite literally for a minute… "By the way, turn around a bit?"

"Turn…? Why should I?" the redhead asks, complying with the request regardless.

Kat reaches into her hair and picks out one tiny black dot after short looking around the neck area. "You had one of these really small spiders in your hair," she says, lifting the little goober for her to see. The wind carries these all over the place.

" _Eeeh,_ " Nami gets shivers turning back to her while holding her locks, zeroing in on the barely visible animal. "Oh, god, get it away….!"

A mischievous smile appears on Kat's face; Nami knows her just enough to step back and eye her with suspicion.

"Away?"

"Don't…"

"Don't what?"

Another step back is followed by a step forward by Kat, and they start waltzing faster and faster, until Nami starts sprinting and runs into Sanji, who is bringing out drinks for her and probably Carrot, as Robin should be having her coffee now.

"Shield!" she shouts, flinging him in between. The man keeps enough balance for the layered cocktails to barely sway; quite impressive. He's also visibly pleased with the development.

"Oh, Nami, dear~ you are so passionate today. What brings you to me~?"

"An itsy bitsy spider," says Kat, bringing it up to his nose, almost.

"Oh, a spi-" the smile freezes onto Sanji's face upon turning towards her, then he emits a sound alike a deflating balloon before arching back all of a sudden over Nami in panic. The utensils in his hand can't compete with the sudden movement, and are wobbling precariously, until the tray itself starts to tilt; noticing that, Kat snaps her hand towards said objects to stop them from falling, and the spider, having had enough of these shenanigans, uses the momentum to make an exit with a jump into the greenery.

The drinks, along with every layer, practically stop in time; Sanji looks over to them, still in shock.

"Sweet catch," says a bubbly Carrot who has likely seen everything as she's sliding down the mast.

"... thanks…" Kat squeaks. Something about this feels… weird, though. "And, uh, sorry," she adds, looking over to the cook. "Didn't know you felt this strongly about creepy crawlies." She almost ruined those drinks and potentially could have broken the glasses, too...

"I-it's fine," he croaks with the frozen smile still on his face, shaking a little both from the position and scare.

"That was mean, Kat," Nami grumbles, pushing the man back onto his feet, checking the grass for the small stowaway. "Don't bring bugs near me… or Sanji, -sorry, Sanji,- they are gross!"

"After this, I really won't," she mumbles, slowly setting the glasses back into position on the tray now that Sanji's calming down and is not shaking things all over the place. The contents, however… need extra care? They are levitating by themselves, so she needs to move them along with the glass. What is she doing differently, here?

"Thank you," the man mumbles with the last item returning to its place and having recollected himself.

"No need to, I was the one brewing trouble in the first place." Being done with the extra task, she feels relieved. "The falling things save is an aspect that I'll definitely miss, no lie," she breathes then. Still, the odd feeling from before has not left her. There's a notion that she can pinpoint every last detail around the ship, to the last strand of hair… she can even feel the little tiptoes of that tiny arachnid under them; taking a look to the side, she can spot a dot exactly where she thinks it is, too. And two butterflies flapping around the garden, flies all over the place, and just in general a lot of small creatures all over. Even the positions of people moving around on board, whom she can kind of identify by size, position, what they might be doing or the way they walk… as well as the different layers in the drinks, which appear to be the most detailed 'feeling' thing. There's just a lot of stuff not belonging to places, and it's a little overwhelming.

Her perception being off is apparently noticeable, as Nami picks up on it as well. "You alright?" Kat has a tendency to space out or look out of it, so she's always a little worried that there's something like a pulled neck muscle going on. Most of the time, though, she's just daydreaming.

"Uh, yes, I'm okay, it's…" Suddenly, she feels enlightened. "Oh, I think I know what this is…"

"What would that something be?" Nami asks, blinking in confusion.

"I think I just activated this scanning stuff by accident," she informs her, looking down at her hands. The trigger must have been reaching for the glasses, but… how does one turn it off?

"Scanning…?" the woman mumbles. This must be something Ope Ope related.

"Like… I just know where a lot of stuff is, all of a sudden…" Thinking about it, she knows specifically where living things are, and the overall shapes of objects. And… possibly the density of things plays into that, because, those drinks...

Sanji notes her sudden interest in said beverages. "Would the resident changeling fairy like a glass of her own?"

Oh god, he's already back to cheesy descriptions level… ANYWAY.

"No, thanks, I don't drink... I do like looking at pretty cocktails, though." Honestly, sometimes they smell really nice, so it's hard to resist... like these. There's some chocolate and raspberries in there… but all she has to think of is the bitter aftertaste and the temptation is no more.

"Actually," she continues as Nami gets her cocktail to sip on and Carrot walks up to them, asking whether she can have the other one, to which Sanji informs the mink that it was meant to be hers anyway; "mind if I try something with one of these…?"

"Oh, are you going to do some cool tricks?" Carrot asks with excitement; "I've been wanting to see the stuff Bropper has been talking about, too!"

"Ah, right! I wanted to show you some stuff, anyway!" she says while sucking up some of the radiating fuzz buzz up, too.

Sanji raises a brow and puts on half a sulk. It takes a second to let the notion of food being tampered with slide, but if it's for the greater good and less frustrating body statuses… Indeed, the thought of everything in the universe being in its rightful place puts his head back in the clouds. "I'll be on my way, my lovelies, call if you need anything~" he swoons while disappearing back in the kitchen in a whirlwind.

Nami also gets going direction library and hum-waves goodbye while taking another sip of her drink, which the remaining two return.

"So, so," the mink starts again, lifting up the glass to Kat; "what do you want to do with this?"

"What I want to do with the drink specifically is probably not that interesting, but even if it's a total failure, I'll make it up to you right after," she notes. She has about one shot at this, anyway.

"Tee-hee~ Show me watcha got," the rabbit girl says with a smug face to challenge the cocktail's opponent.

"As you wish," Kat responds with a smile of the same smugness level; Carrot snorts at this.

"You legit sound and look like Bepo's captain for once," she giggles.

"Hey, hey, careful," Kat half-laughs while trying to keep the glass upright; "I need this thing as it is right now."

"Alright, even if you will suck at this, you've already redeemed yourself," the mink states as they waddle with combined efforts towards the table to settle at. "Purely on a basis of a spot-on impression that you ruined immediately after." She wasn't there for the first performance anyway. "Bonus points for not even trying, tho."

"Well, Carrot, to catch the prey…" she looks around with shifty eyes as the glass clinks on the polished surface; "you need to become the prey."

"Well, well, well, Kat… I literally _am_ prey," she nods, releasing the object at last. "Also… are you saying you are out on a hunt? Hmm?" The smug smile returns, and this time it's accompanied by a knowing look and crossed arms.

The girl needs to consider this for a moment, and she also puts on a comically exaggerated thinking face. Is she trying to go for Law's jugular in any way or form? She's had worse company, but... "Not really. Or deliberately. Unless hunting for funny situations for either person counts as such." With that she also lets go of the poor liquid that still retains most of its form.

Carrot nods wisely after a few seconds, eyes entranced in the cloudy horizon. "... that's fair, can't blame you for that."

Kat needs to hold back a smile, then decides to put an end to this banter. "Okay, alright, I may have finished off my coffee in like three shots, but I'll have to hurry regardless," she waves her hands around. "Let's see this bad boy," she groans while dropping on a chair; Carrot follows her lead and watches intently.

Okay, so… she still has that feeling going, that's good; she also tried to keep the drink stable while holding it, which seems to have been a success. Now, how to do the thing she has in mind… She touches the glass again, which seems to power up the sensation somewhat; even if it's a placebo effect, being in contact seems to make things much easier. There is definitely a difference between the glass and its content... what she's really interested in, however, are the individual layers, which also seem different… they _feel_ different. Especially the lightest and heaviest ones.

What if she just tried, took the lowest, dark layer, and...

"... Kat, what part of reality are you breaking again?" asks Usopp in a vaguely wary manner while passing with his tool box, his eyes catching the liquid blob pass a rather opaque layer following her finger before settling on top. Carrot breathes a 'cool' as she watches on with her head on the table.

"... density or gravity, I guess." If not both. Those are kinda correlated, aren't they...? Eh, fuck physics. She can break all the rules, anyway.

As the layer settles in, she takes a look at the one now below it; a motion of another finger lowers it to the middle, then she raises it up again through the static ones. After that, she puts the reddish, heavy goop back to its place, with the lightest layer over it. Releasing it all makes the whitish liquid phase through multiple other ones, stirring the entire cocktail up. Looks rather nifty, with all those vertical stripes in it. Last part notwithstanding... if souls or whatever feel just as different, and she can make them slide through another... after some refinement, this just might be the thing she needs.

* * *

As you can tell, I couldn't really figure a title for this one... this one fits, so it sits. Also, have even more unplanned Carrot time! \o/

Here's today's silly art: inexchangeforyoursoul tumblr com/post/174054776167/theyve-been-carrying-around-sound-dials-ever

On a sidenote, I started to write out a scene that comes a bit after some good, old stuff (by which I mean ancient, roughly two chapters worth of material from somewhere between Christmas and the end of January that I need to reread and patch up for continuity's sake) that I'm getting close to, and… I lowkey admit that I haven't looked up the possible lingering symptoms of lead poisoning up till a week ago. And yet, it's disturbing how legit my guesses were, even past the chronic pain lmao? Shit's wild, yo.

(Won't come up, but among other things, it can fuck up your cognitive abilities, that is to say, make you stupid(er)... our genius Law's IQ was probably so broken that it needed to be nerfed to hell, yet he's still one of the smartest jackasses in the series. somehow, this info delights me… what a force of nature.) (I'm definitely winging the shit as to why those things happen tho, this is just a shitty fic project, I don't need nor really want a PhD in neurosurgery and whatnot. … for now, at least. I'd be happy with a teacher's degree. And something to prove that I'm by no stretch bad at translating stuff.)


	27. Care bear

Kat is preoccupied with the new idea as she's doing a really quick rabbit shadow show while near invisible, which, as expected, Carrot is all over about. (She tells something about Wano and shadow theatre, but never having seen this…?)

However, she forgets about it as soon as Usopp replaces her after the lukewarm performance to do some actual skilled shadowplay for the mink to enjoy. The distortion part also gets cancelled after the initial tricks, as it would be hard for the eager girl to learn some of this otherwise.

It's the mild pain in her face from laughing and smiling a little too much at the sniper's excessively dumb commentary that reminds Kat of time being up, and she makes another run for it.

"Well… I was already giving up on you getting back within a few minutes," Law sighs in resignation and mild relief as she opens the door with care only she bothers with. Taking a look back at her, his brows pull closer together. "… is… there something up with your face?" She doesn't seem to be especially bothered, but… it could be _that_. Or a splitting headache, if she's not drinking enough. She has just had coffee, but what and how much did she have before that?

"Usopp said a lot of funny hogwash and it made me laugh a lot…" Kat near complains with a groan, rubbing her cheeks. "Guess your grumpy face is not used to it." A sting or two is commonplace even in her own body, as she either has a plastic smile or empty stare on in public, but Law's face seems to be even more taken about the exercise.

… or, it could be that. After short consideration, Law lets himself relax again. "Wouldn't be too surprised, to be honest. Maintaining a poker face and the occasional smirk is not very taxing on those muscles." He stops again before getting back to his transplants book; "If you were to get legitimately sore… just fucking tell me, okay?" He could definitely see something like this trigger the other two problems.

"I _knooow_ , I have it with my own actual face all the time from having too good of a goddamn time," she says, putting the last pats on the cheeks. It just… hurts, then maybe buzzes for a while. "I'm used to it."

"…" the quill stops over the notepad before he would continue the bullet points; he needs a second to interpret this reply. "… I kind of forgot you are not sunshine and rainbows all the time, to be honest." She started off as someone who was lowkey judging people from the sidelines in silence. If nothing else, catching a reaction or two on topics like Monkey D. Luffy was amusing enough.

It's been about a week since this initial impression had changed, but it feels like ages since Kat seemed like someone careful and distant, if not calculating and uncaring. Which… is funny, because she seeks out loopholes to have fun and also cares in her own way, even a little too much at that. Still, not counting that he saw her cracking up on her potential execution, or the suppressed smiles while watching the crews do something stupid, he did not see her laugh until a day after they've met. Following that, nothing until Friday, where she laughed a lot, and… well, there was Saturday evening.

Wednesday also marks the date when she had caught his attention. That smile of hers irked him from the get-go, even without knowing why.

"When I'm in my element, maybe… otherwise, I'm partly cloudy with a chance of rain," she mumbles, then notes that the teddy she has passed to him is sitting in the junk behind the now closed door. Seems like some stuff has also been moved. "… what did this bear do to deserve the timeout corner?" Was he trying to get the wardrobe open? Or is it the huge chest crammed into the literal corner with a lot of stuff still on- and in front of it? Well, it's really easy to find out either way.

"Wanted to put it away, but I guess I'll have to wait until I have my bod-" He hears some stuff hitting the bed, followed by a short scraping sound on wood and some hinges creaking, and he freezes with eyes wide and as pale as a ghost. She didn't just do what he thinks she did, did she?

"Oh my _gosh_ ," Kat squeals upon discovering the unquestionably high grade stuffed material in the levitating trove. "These are deliberately the most adorable things ever?" The poofy white teddy at the top smiling at her is made of tangible sunshine and rainbows. There's no way all of these are from the same person, there's too much variety… This crew has taste, alright. That shaggy blonde leg near a corner actually kind of looks like… "The soft stuff," she whispers in awe, grabbing it immediately.

"YOU," Law near-shouts, then lowers the volume to an aggressive whisper while tumbling out from his chair; "put those things away _right now_." Uni and Shachi are in the control room and could barge in any time, and by god, he cannot let them know that he's actually kept _every. single. one_ _of these_. His occasionally mulled-over plan to just dump it all on the nearest kindergarten or clinic is suddenly top priority, because fucking Kat with her apparently zero self-restraint will unearth any embarrassing secret or cursed relic she can put her grabby hands on. Not to mention digging up traumatic memories she should have zero access to. And she has his body, his devil fruit… is there _anything_ he has that is safe from this woman?!

"Okay, okay, I will," she slurs as he dumps backpack burglar bear in with the others and is reaching for the one in her hands; "but… "

"But _what_ ," he hisses as she lifts it out of reach, eyeing the door behind them while also listening for movement.

"Can I keep this one?" she squeaks, holding her new stuffed friend with the plaid bandana scarf close. He's been given so many and puts them all someplace nobody could find them, one more or less really won't matter, right? "Please?" … it kind of stinks, though. Nothing that a round or two in the washing machine cannot fix, though.

"…" He's had to deal with some weird requests in the past few months, but this… this is the one that takes the cake. "Why the _hell_ do you want it?" he bursts out, struggling to keep his volume low. "Isn't there enough useless garbage in that dump house of yours already?!"

The chest sways in the air as shame washes over Kat's face; she can't get any sound through the lump in her throat for ten solid seconds. Once her color fades into the negatives and she would be able to say something, she has no words left in her.

Seeing her mood whiplash, Law gets to calm down and lets out a frustrated sigh. He's done it now, didn't he. Legitimately hurt her. It was only a question of time, but he expected to feel less of an ass over it. The accusation is unfair anyhow, since he also has a room full of obsolete shit and a huge treasure chest reserved for nothing but teddy bears that everyone thinks he's long gotten rid of.

"Whatever, take it if…" Kat reaches out with the plushie in hand… "… you, uh…" … and puts it back on top of the pile.

"Don't want it," she mumbles through her sore throat.

"It's… it doesn't matter, I'm full on these things. Won't be able to cram in any more, anyway." About two bigger ones, and he won't be able to shut the lid without squishing its inhabitants.

She shakes her head. "This memory… is no good."

"…" The memory? The random junk in the 'dump,' and all that knickknack she has littering the place that are on the decorative side of things are… stuff to remember things by? More specifically, reminders of pleasant things. Huh. Suppose… there is something to that.

He takes one more look at the bears inside, then shuts the chest. "I see." Both of them have some long overdue spring cleaning to do, and not only on the physical plane.

Kat then rearranges the mess into the same pile as she has found it; chest as the base, followed by tightly rolled-up posters to the sides to support the folders and books on them, another doctor's suitcase that's barely in one piece, a metal case between that and the wardrobe, and finally, the notebooks and whatever else… on top. All that's missing is the little shelf rack that was sitting in front.

Law can tell by a single glance at her body language that she's lost all motivation she might have had thus far. Great. Just… great. He made her plummet back to square one, if not zero. Can't help but keep digging your own damn grave, can you? Take a deep breath and do what you have to. "Kat-ya?"

She freezes up for a moment, then lets out a questioning hum.

Not even on talking terms, huh?

"As one hoarder to another… sorry."

After some delay, she sniffs.

"... don't you fucking start crying on me."

Long story short, she did start silent crying and the man had to manually insert a leftover cracker in her mouth like a punch card and had her drink the last cup's worth of tea to get her to calm down. She felt both empty and relieved, and also like a big baby in need of their favorite stuffed toy for the rest of the day. Law meanwhile likely felt like playing a very done surrogate dad, dealing with an insufferable kid on the way home. Shachi even tried to nickname him 'Mr Babysitter' once him and Uni had actually entered the place in the middle of it all, but this jab was quickly redirected as Law flat-out told him that taking care of a toddler was nothing new for someone running a daycare 24/7. That one earned an immature, wet faced chuckle from her.

She probably should have felt more embarrassed by the situation overall. However, she kind of enjoyed it, even? Which also ought to have earned much more shame on her part, but she just became really calm and tired for the rest of the day. Crying feels good, sometimes.

Also sometimes, she has to wonder whether coffee even works.

"Okay, touch-me-not… time to hit the hay," she can hear Law's voice phase in some time later before getting shooed from her button project and out of the room. "And tomorrow, try to act like a respectable adult, because as of now… it's hard to look at you as a grown-ass woman." It feels like he had to turn into an actual babysitter, if not a pet owner for the day. And holy shit, was it fucking _exhausting_. She might be on par with Luffy in this regard.

She just gives a tired, matter of fact 'okay' as an answer as she surveys the doorway with vacant eyes.

The flat response… is not something he's used to. Is she like this after letting some steam out, or…? "... are you actually registering the things I say?"

"Yes, I'm just… one with the universe," she nods.

Law squints at her, then shoves the woman personally out the door; her eyes are still a little red, and the weird (although not really out of character) answer would make him suspect her being high on weed, if not for the fact that it's a substance that can be found in one single container on his wannabe-estate, that is to say, in his room, and that one is locked shut ever since some not-so-mysterious vanishing acts. Even if she shoplifted him, he would fucking notice, sharing the goddamn space all day. "You talk and walk like a zombie, get the fuck out right now."

He watches her wobble up the staircase for a bit, then closes the door with a shaking head. This… was certainly a day.

A few comatose minutes later, Kat walks into the unlit room and falls into the cotton pile unceremoniously right after. Nice and cool… almost enough to beat some life into her. Almost. It gives just enough energy to stop suffocating by flipping over, and pull one of the things over her torso. After lying around in the empty room for a bit, she turns on her side and hugs the blanket tight. She's missing her hug pillow a lot right now. Wondering about how nice it would be to have that, or the huge, white bear over, or even just another layer so this place feels less hard, she falls asleep rather fast.

Then, in what feels like a minute later, she finds herself sweating bullets. There was another nightmare, which was easily the worst one as of yet; being shut into the chest with plushies, barely able to move, with noone to hear her voice... And the screams of people outside... and the guns, just... the never ending gunshots and screaming. She shudders just thinking about it… a dream like this would upset her even without context. After shedding a few tears, she also feels the pain slowly settle inside; she was just thinking what felt off about this dream… the absence of agonizing stabs and cramps is what it was. This time, it's creeping up her right thigh and her hips, setting them on fire in real time, then the already throbbing sternum turns into a knife in her chest. Any other vague throb around the stomach has nothing on these, they might as well not even exist. She peeks direction windows to see nothing but darkness; she can hear the soft breaths of the other three, so a considerable amount of time has passed, but it must be pretty early still... she's got the bad feeling that this pain will not go away until morning, and sleeping back in right now is just... unless she faints from this, there's no way she will.

There is indeed no more rest she can get; after the generally early bird Carrot leaves, she sits up to get at least that part done, then tries her best to get on her feet before the others start moving as the alarm sounds an hour later. Task is successfully mastered in time, although she has to lean on one of the chairs for a minute, because even while being more numb than in pain at the moment, her legs did _not_ appreciate that.

" … bad day for sleep, huh?" Nami half-asks from her own daze once having taken a look at her.

"Nnnnhng," is all that Kat can manage for the time being. Getting tortured aside, she really hasn't slept a lot, even with the near immediate knockout in the evening. Her brain is on autopilot; nobody suspects that her hobbling and nearly running into walls has any other cause than the velcro eyelids, really. At least moving around seems to ease her suffering somewhat.

By the time she has to stand up from the dining table and make her way down, the temporal alleviation has worn off and she can barely manage the task without falling back onto the chair. This is worse than the two weeks of hell from spring when she managed to trap a nerve in her spine. There's also a numbness spreading on her right side, slowly creeping higher and higher as the soreness decides to look for a new target before moving on from her hips for good. She could cry, really... likely slept through the worst every time thus far. _God_ … being Law _sucks_.

As soon as she enters his room, which looks somehow even messier than before, Law clicks his tongue beside the chest of drawers which is buried under new junk.

"If nothing else, you have impeccable timing whenever you are following the routine… good morning." Looking back at her slowly puzzling the scenery together, his face displays overt exasperation soon enough. "… I can already tell you will need full-time supervision today, so I'm skipping the briefing. I wanted to take matters into my own hands, anyway." Matters being… her focus, which seems to react well to spoon-fed attention judging by her episode yesterday. Whatever amount of that still exists in this walking corpse. This experimental endeavor might be ill-timed, but to hell with it all, he's already planned this out, and he's going to go through with it. He turns back to the piece of furniture to stack some of the junk they won't be needing today; "Move it while we're young, alright?"

She hums. Closing the door, her eyes linger on the chest in the corner. Turning back towards him, she stops for a moment; asking would be all kinds of rude, yet she can't help but wonder… how much of the dreams are actual things that happened. A lot of people she sees and meets certainly are… or were actual people.

Also… how does he handle days like these? Does he lock himself up in his room, or is he just lowkey clingy? Well… there's always Bepo to look for, minks are cuddly and he does get comfortable leaning on him and whatnot. Must be his go-to therapy. Would be nice to have access to that, since the polar bear really is as soft as it gets. Honestly… she really needs to hug the shit out of something decently squishy that won't ask follow-up questions right about now. Questions that are none of their business, at least.

"Zombie attack," she moans in a monotone voice, hobbling to his side with stiff thighs.

He mouths a 'wha' as the words click just as she goes in for the kill. "What the- Kat-ya, what now?" he asks in bafflement as soon as the initial surprise wears off. Also, these impulse hugs are only getting tighter, aren't they?

She gives him a little squeeze before release, but there's no answer.

Law raises a brow while staring at her blank, if not sad expression; a few seconds of consideration later he lets out a tired, knowing sigh. "Nightmare?"

The girl nods with a hum after some delay.

" … no tea and crackers if you haven't brought more, so that's that." Not sure what else he could start with, or do in general. He'd rather avoid the rest of yesterday's fiasco.

"I'm supposed to be a big girl now, so I won't ask for any," Kat pouts to that with overdone articulation as if reading his mind. "I might ask for some hugs, though," she adds stepping out of the role of a five-year-old with a sigh that sounds as painful as her liver area feels now. The heat is also getting to her today and she already is about to break out in sweat. Except she doesn't, which just makes her feel like implodig with nausea.

"…" He can't think of anything on the spot, but she could be asking worse. Hell… he's kind of getting used to it. "Eh, whatever, I'll bear a few if necessary," he shrugs at last. _But_ : "Tell me beforehand and keep it to a minimum, though." She may not be able to disturb him during work today, but if he doesn't give restrictions, she might cling to him all the damn time. As upsetting those dreams may get at times, that's absolutely unnecessary.

She perks up; did he just… okay it? "Woah… really?"

"Yes, _re-"_ Law deadpans as she gives him the frontal treatment right away. "-ally. Honestly, do you have to do this?" he sighs in limp resignation. He feels like becoming a comfort article… she might have been in need of that bear, after all.

"Absolutely," she says beaming as she straightens herself with some care as to not trigger some really unpleasant things. "you are big, warm and strong, so I can give soft, high quality hugs to everyone I like!" Being half a beefcake and heater feels nice~ Gotta accept that her body really is on the bony side after getting to hug herself a few times.

First of all: was that an indirect compliment? Second of all: there's a foreboding number of likely people she's already made close physical contact with… apart from being embarrassing and potential blackmail, his relatively weak immune system should _not_ be put into situations all haphazardly like that. Hopefully she washes her hands regularly, if nothing else. And finally, she hugs people she likes, and the implied message of having received, like, five in the past two days already… all in all, every single aspect of that sentence gives Law something vaguely alarming to think about.

He opens his mouth, then closes it again as he cannot muster an answer. Well then… move on? "... aaanyway… you seem to have magically woken up, so here's the deal with today: I was thinking of some changes, that is to say, instead of ogling you from the sidelines, I will be actively present in your training schedule. Also, we'll be doing various mixed tasks for as long as you're… operable? How much sleep did you get?"

Kat finds this idea to her liking; can't do wrong when being instructed, and company makes for a less boring day. She lowkey needs some supervision and someone to tell her what to do all the time to be at maximum productivity, anyway. Getting interrupted too often has the total opposite effect, but…trying can't hurt. "Could have been five? I'm not sure. Anyhow, that… sounds nice, actually."

Luckily, after settling into the new system and the pain receding for a while, the morning is an overall blast. Partly since she's basically constructing a junk castle over and over, removing and inserting parts with as little leeway as possible. Also, despite her worries… Law would actually make a pretty good teacher? His explanations use more jargon than necessary, but they leave just enough up to imagination and he also lets her deviate from the task. He helps no more or less than what she needs, too. Who would have thought. She sneakily uses Scan to her benefit as well, since it aids at taking things out of other things. Funny how she's getting the hang of the reverse task faster… or so it would be, if time was not pressing her to succeed at both as fast as possible.

Getting up for the fifth time in a few minutes to adjust something towards noon serves as a quick reminder that she was getting too brave with moving around, because the stabbing pain returns as quickly as it was slow at fading out. This time she actually is covered in cold sweat all of a sudden and overcome by a sense of weakness as well. That won't be her blood sugar… but could be.

"Suddenly… I feel like I could eat a horse," Kat notes between gritting her teeth. _Yeeeesh_ , some muscle is fucking cramping on her right side, holy fuck… It's fortunate that Law's to her back, because… Okay, okay, okay… it's receding, take a breath. "Kind of forgot getting more than the usual after the forced wake. I don't suppose you have one lying around? Some snacks would be nice until… lunch." And now blood pressure seems to be plummeting, too… ho, boy. Imagine how he would react if she just fainted right now. Not fun, not at all.

He sighs. "You should have more than just a cup of cocoa anyhow? Feed me proper, that body is used to labor and burns what it gets, goddammit." He does get up, however, and adjusts his pants quick. "I'm also getting peckish, so I might as well get something. Lunch won't be ready for an hour at least… you won't want to eat rice balls, I suppose, so French toast or toast toast? Likely slightly burnt in either case. That's about all I'm capable of." Hopefully Fugu won't catch him red-handed… if he's lucky, the cook's already headed out for veggies and stuff.

… not eating at all was a lie, but she's suddenly reminded of how long it's been since she's had either. Or scrambled eggs. With pepper and paprika, and thinly sliced garlic… can't have him try and fuck that one up, though. "... give me your best shot at a French toast, two slices," she replies with a watery mouth.

"Just don't complain if you don't like it," he shrugs walking up to the exit. "Be right back."

Being alone for a moment, she groans in frustration. The pain is not only back, but just as bad as it was, like it just won't stop at _all_. It sneakily crawled up her neck in the past hour, making it stiff, and now it started eating the right side of her face from the inside out and she already knows this will end with a splitting headache. The goddamn left shoulder is also getting tense again, but that keeps happening so often she doesn't even notice any more unless it hurts.

Thinking about that, her eyes wander over to his desk- and then to the upper right shelf where he fished out a pill from the other day. After short consideration, she steps over to the furniture slowly and rests the tip of her finger on the handle. These are for him, right? What if she just…

* * *

No art today... like, technically, I would have some unrelated doodles, but I'm not even up for going to the scanner while sweating a second niagara falls.

I was sooo tempted to just cut it and make this two chapters, too, but I still don't want to go over 45 chapters, ya feel? I still don't think it has a nice flow. Now, let me just… actually finish this chapter until August (2018.07.30. as of writing the 1.0 version of these AN, there's about 5 paragraphs and some dialogue missing)… then upload the stuff I have, like, weekly or biweekly depending on my pace, and just write whatever… because if I've decided I'm gonna finish this shit including appendix and perhaps prompts on the date this fucking story actually ends, I better start working out with words right now. We gotta preheat the oven and start bakin, kids. We gotta.

Also, I was too lazy to rebrand the frenchness of french toast. Not even Snooj is French, goddammit, and can't think of anywhere else off the top of my head. Next time, (as in, 3 chapters' time I see) I'm just renaming any country that has no counterpart lmao


	28. Drugs are bad, m'kay?

Following the slices of overly dry, but not quite burnt French toast, the few hours after Law's return pass uneventfully; every available minute is spent on practicing the popping of things to wherever he tells her to. Both tasks get mundane fast once they've had something to nibble on and they find themselves bored out of their minds soon enough, which quickly escalates into the type of insufferable exhaustion only the slowest, most nondescript days can draw out of a person. They even forget about lunch. By the time the sun is starting to look for a nice spot to go under the horizon, she's made herself shamelessly comfortable on his bed while playing around aimlessly, building the wackiest fort possible of all the junk in Law's room while he watches absentmindedly sitting beside the bed, propped up with one arm on it next to her.

As they're idling about, she speaks up all of a sudden between piling up yawns. "Hey, Law?"

He groans, indicating that he's paying attention.

"I was just thinking... and can't remember for the life of me. How do wedding vows go again?"

He's absolutely dumbfounded by the question. "The _what_ now?" Where the hell did this even come from? Did she find the pot while he was away, after all…? If so, he's impressed. He never got around to experiment with it and doesn't remember where the container or even the key to the lock are anymore.

"It's something about good and bad times, always being honest... and sharing stuff..." she purrs into the cover that's tickling her nose a little, with the shadow of serious thinking on her brows.

He shrugs. "I guess so, never actually attended a wedding." This is not entirely true, but he doesn't remember a thing from his aunt's wedding past the fact that he was there, and short enough to be walking under the tables, anyway. He also has no idea what she's going on about still... too tired for this shit. Might as well diagnose coma.

Kat hums. "Speaking of which... we kind of overshare the shit out of each other. We even share bodies... and memories that we have no business having. None of these is a requirement and also... totally wild," she mutters to herself, lifting another cube on top of a useless tower. "And are even cool with this shit. Kinda." She, personally, is.

The thread... has been officially lost. "Kat-ya... what. The hell." Just as he gets to the end of that, he does find the thread she's been following, though. And by _God_ , with capital letter intact, what the _Hell_ indeed. He jolts up.

"Sssh..." she says, patting his arm. "Anyway... I'm not saying we're basically married, but... we're basically married."

Words escape him once more for a slightly different reason, but he surely does want to say a few things right now, even with the sloppy haze still sticking to his senses. As he's struggling to express how he's not happy about the suggestion (despite, as per usual, having some kind of logic to back it up, which is just as, if not more unnerving as the statement itself), she's also raising herself onto her elbows.

"Sssh. You are always the one stirring up household quarrel. Don't. _Sssh._ " she reaches out to tap his face from the side. The gesture is gentle, albeit awkward from the angle.

And yet, he's re-experiencing the fight or flight reaction from a few days back. And she's not even remotely threatening, just... overwhelmingly intimate, if anything. Not even in a way that can be taken seriously. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he'd say she's... no. She's not drunk, she doesn't even drink, in present tense or ever. This… this really is...

He can feel the the temperature of the room plummet to zero.

"Kat... where did you take it from, and what was it?" he asks sternly, grabbing her by the wrist. This dumb bitch took _something_ , and it sure as hell wasn't cannabis.

"... drawer..." she says in a vaguely surprised manner a second of latency later, then her blank expression turns sad. Still, she continues: "Was looking for painkiller... since over the counter ones won't work." She blinks, then slides back down onto her stomach. Okay, it's time to allow himself to start panicking. "Definitely had, uhh... ibuprofen. There were… quite a lot, I picked a funny one? I'm only vaguely aware, but... I'm a fucking mess, ain't I," she giggles awkwardly, then slips into a thoughtful silence which is broken by another soft sentence. "Sorry… I should have asked…"

Damn _straight_ she should have; anything in this room is poison, if not straight-out deadly in the wrong hands, what was she even thinking!? This could be bad... what does he even have lying around in this room? Sure, most of it is for personal use and testing, but he always has an antidote or something ready just in case, not to mention his powers are usually at hand. No, no time to think about that, he needs to stay on task: she mentioned ibuprofen and the desk, most likely... rules out the really bad things, but that still leaves 80% of what he has there, he needs more info. For starters, _which_ drawer she's talking about would be a good starting point. Apparently she has shed every last filter she had, so while non compos mentis, it shouldn't be a great problem to figure out. Calm down, think straight. There was a sedative mixed in for sure…

She takes a deep breath. "I should have asked... as soon as I realized it's... chronic."

Hearing that, his grip on her loosens and his heart sinks. She's been attentive and rather upbeat, so he assumed... he was _stupid_ to assume that she wasn't in pain or it was not bad enough to be a problem. That, by the time it would get ugly, he'd long have his body back. Because, he was doing well recently, and… despite of it all? She really is learning fast. Hell, she's not stupid and seems to have figured this detail out a while ago. God, he was really suspicious the other day when she had neck pains, too, but as it really seemed to be a pulled muscle, he didn't give it a second thought… Even upon hearing that she had those nightmares, which are frequently accompanied by this shit, he didn't do anything. And he knows damn well that it's always _the worst of it_. Every time he's stressed, they are there, and fuck, he _knew_ she was an anxious mess around strangers since day one, it was bound to happen. He didn't even bother to ask, or give her preemptive pills to take regularly because of his... his shitty pride, or whatever.

And, on top of it all... Kat also didn't say a thing. She did exactly what he has been doing since the very beginning. Putting up a poker face, and bearing it. Pretending to be fine. Then downing the first drug she got hold of when it became too much.

"Ah...!" she squeaks with realization, and reaches to hold his shoulder lightly. "... morphine...!" That's what it's called, the other poppy thing!

The tension dissipates from his tendons; she wouldn't touch raw material, nor a half-processed bottle, so the list is down to four. He pats her head; he can work with that. "Understood."

With that, he walks over to his desk, pulling out the rightmost drawer and picking out two little paper bags; first one has five pills, which means it's intact. The quick scribble under the similarly undecipherable ingredients list attests this. The second one should have seven... and there are six... and a half. The writing is less rushed, so she could have reasonably noted the two substances.

Reading through it all, he feels relieved. It's a strong concoction indeed, could knock a horse out... but she could think straight enough to be careful and swallow only a part of it. Otherwise she'd likely be out of commission, and he would be a panicking mess.

He looks back at her; apart from her being like... _that_ for another two to five hours, it will be fine.

"Have I successfully offed myself?" she asks, peeking up at him.

"Not even close," Law informs her, crossing his arms. He almost allows himself to be amused at her lying there like a stranded seal, but her sullen expression makes him reconsider that fast. "Oi. That better not be disappointment I see on your face."

She sticks out her tongue, then puts a smile on. Next thing he knows a pen's dropped on his head.

Note to self: never take morphine infused pills unless you go to sleep right after, because it could end in the most embarrassing ways.

* * *

Add a line here, rephrase that over there… aaand, done.

Rereading this, I got reminded of having sucked the candy coating off the meds of my grandpa when I was around 5. My parents were, unsurprisingly enough, in panic mode. It's okay to be half-smart, kids. It is. (Still, don't do that. Not even with blood thinners.)

On the other hand, unlike Kat, I do fucking tell people if I'm about to collapse from pain, or faint, or something like that, because it's kind of important, you know.

Also... did I mention going biweekly? Never mind lmao, even a weekly schedule will be pushing the target date hard lmao?

Art for today be here: inexchangeforyoursoul tumblr com/post/176888291012/first-one-is-titled-kat-pls-others-are-law-pls


	29. Diagnosis

"Honestly, I still cannot believe you were capable of being this stupid," he states with a flashlight in his hand, then flips the wooden tongue depressor into his overflowing dustbin. Fucking rummaging through a doctor's stash without supervision, or qualification… jesus.

It's two hours later, and Kat's sitting on her improvised examination. Law told her right away that she's not getting a fix, but decided to check on her status eventually, just to make sure.

"Well, now you know," she nods, chilling in a more sane state. Only by a notch, but already better. "May or may not have picked that one because I could read that it had…. _things_ in it. Was curious, you know." How often does someone like her get a hold of something like opium?

She catches a mumbled 'dumbass' and feels the stethoscope touch her back under the t-shirt, which earns an immediate reaction of shudder. Those things are always way too cold, and the one in his frankly permatropical room is no exception. She bets the reflex put a smile on his mug- the thought makes her crack one, too.

"Thanks for the deep breaths... anyhow, I know I've asked you every ten minutes, but how do you feel?"

" _Haaah_... better by the minute... the fog is lifting," she says, then inhales again slowly.

"Do you even remember the stuff you had said before I caught on? Because... it certainly was something," he muses, moving to the front to continue there.

"As clearly as the sun," she smiles.

"Do you, now," he asks, gently poking direction liver to check on it, to which she giggles. He shakes his head patiently, then puts the stethoscope to work again.

Deep breath. "Yep, and I still think we're kinda pseudo-married." The idea itself came from nowhere, but makes as much sense as anything else, even upon revision. Being an occasional troll aside, he's cool with her, too.

Exhale.

He just hums at that, putting the instrument over her heart for a few seconds. Annoyingly enough, the sound he's looking for is drowned out by his own heartbeat that's getting to his head. Concentrate man, you are doing business here. Be embarrassed (second hand or otherwise) later.

"I know, I know. Like, we're not even... friends, officially speaking," she continues while he's getting the sphygmomanometer ready. As he wraps it around her arm, she speaks the question that's popped into her head. "Seriously serious question: are we friends, Law?"

"Hmm... only as long as you don't call me princess," he replies after short consideration.

She nods. "Fair trade. I'll take it. … Hon."

Before pumping the thing up, he gives her a noogie, meeting minimal resistance while doing so; in fact, she's grinning wide. Making a sport out of this, isn't she… two outta two substances turn her into a cheeky gremlin. Unfortunate. He has to wonder whether he's also like this while high on shit. Furthermore, he's definitely gotten red in the face. The more he thinks about it, the more so. Goddammit. Anyway... her blood pressure... is... 110 and 65 millimeters of mercury. A notch lower than his usual, but in this case it is to be expected, even with her happy-go-lucky mood.

"... I haven't had a friend since I was 10," she states then as he pulls it off her arm. "Like... one who agreed that yes, we are positively, definitely, absolutely friends."

"Well then, you're welcome," Law nods, putting the instrument back into its box. Then fishes out a finger prick from the depths of a big metal chest which took quite some determination to pull out from under his desk. Upon first inspection, it's likely the only perfectly sterile thing in this room apart from the very shiny front desk surface itself, which, as Kat has found, is the source of the antiseptic stench engulfing the premises.

"Ouch..." She winces as the small needle pierces her skin; he immediately puts a cotton ball on the finger, which stings quite a bit. Alcohol still sucks in every way or form.

"This one you won't have to sit out... will take hours to examine properly. It's also your bedtime soon, not to mention you haven't eaten jack all day past my fourth-rate garbage, so go and do your thing, shoo." He says as he gives her back a nudging pat.

"Alright, thanks a lot! Garchu~" Kat says while picking Law up to his surprise as she jumps on her feet, giving him a long, warm, spine-shattering bear hug... he can feel, and hear, several joints of his pop. Not asking for permission aside, Kat must be quite unaware of the power applied here. Then again, she could almost definitely crush him like a cheap vial with that body if she really wanted to, so she might as well be _very_ much aware of what she's doing.

"You're shameless, you know that?" he squeaks with the hint of a smile while trying not to suffocate and writes this action up to the remnants of morphine effects. The comment is acknowledged with a little snicker, then Kat lowers Law back to the floor to release him from the loosening death grip.

It does take a little too long for her to finish the action, however; so he looks up, and bumps into his own nose at the tip. And looks into his own eyes. The notion that this is a wee bit too close for comfort is drowned out by the thought that he... wouldn't look at anyone like that. Well, there might be some close calls, but... not anyone who's among the living, no. The moment really seems like an eternity and he can feel heat slowly spread across his upper body, reaching up to his face. Then, as she leans just a little bit closer, he winces. That's when she steps back and lifts her arms at last, but damn if he isn't going to be a mess for a couple more minutes. Can he blame hormones? Or being tired again? Yes?

"Sorry," she starts, "didn't mean to startle you."

He can still hear heartbeat thunder in his ears. Can't bear to look at her right now, but he knows that voice; it's the insufferable poker face she puts on every time she's upset or feels cornered. Apparently, she's clean enough by now to enter this state. He can sympathize very well at the moment. "Uh, I... no, no, it's just," he sputters, looking for a way to calm down, and also calm her down, because surely she's just as taken... it's just, he'll need a second or two after this, okay? "for a moment there... I really thought you'd..." He lets out a weak laugh; the whole idea is silly, she's pretty timid in the first place, why would she even, or ever-

"I... wanted... to," she cuts into his flustered stuttering, the voice questioning itself.

His heart skips a beat.

Oh. Well... damn.

"... why?" Why would _anyone_? Anyone who's not a sick fuck or at least a little touched in the head, that is. He just never could wrap his mind around the idea...

"I think... after all..." she blinks, then looks down while getting red to the ears, "I do...…" 'actually like you.' The segment quickly becomes a series of stray, undecipherable consonants, but it would still be hard to mistake them for anything else under current circumstances.

"... I'm a prick." Law picks the first seemingly reasonable thing that he can think of as soon as he finds it. His mind is blank. Has nothing but random snippets from various people to offer; this one... is from when they were out in line for chestnuts, isn't it. When she called him a shrew.

"Am aware." Although, both of them have to admit in this moment of silence... that she's yet to be an active target of snide remarks.

And yes, that 'I'm well aware' comment... that exactly was his response a few days back. Are they thinking about the same thing? Or is she just picking the first logical response that comes to her, too? This is so... oh, god.

He remains silent... for too long. The conversation is dead; somewhere down the line, Kat took her hand grasping the cotton ball, and is rubbing it slowly to soothe the nerves. Her embarrassed blush, which Law didn't even catch appear, is barely noticeable at this point. They stand around awkwardly like this for a while; the static darkness and rhythmic, otherworldly hum of the submarine makes the passage of time uncertain.

"... sorry," she breathes again at last. It's barely audible.

"... it's fine. Never mind."

She takes a timid look around her, nods, and steps towards the exit. One squeak, two squeaks... and the door handle clacks. She's so careful that not even the otherwise noisy stairs can be heard afterwards.

He takes a deep breath. Then another. But it doesn't help; he feels empty... and guilty. With no available comfort, this time. The worst thing, though... and he has no idea how to come to terms with this... is that he does feel something towards her... and by rule of elimination, well, he...

He likes her, too.

* * *

Now ki- no? 0kay.

And yes, I did… take my time with this? A little too much, I feel. Next time I get the inane idea to write something with more than five chapters, I will have to pace the plot much better. And, just… plan, in general. Because, as of right now, this looks the following: up until ch 10, it's almost exclusively focused on establishing Kat's person and her relationships with people… then this goes on with more and more ope ope fuckery as time goes on. About halfway through, villainous OCs appear and one of their names is dropped. The other plot-relevant stuff is sprinkled into roughly every 5th chapter, and some notable shit is yet to be pointed out past 30, and this will come crashing down in the last 8 or so chapters, eventually? Maybe I'm overthinking it as the percentages kinda work out upon thinking about this, but still…

ANYWAY... some patched-up art: inexchangeforyoursoul tumblr com/post/177104353602/shrugs-i-just-cannot-be-assed-to-draw-what-i

ps I realized that I'll likely have more chapters than weeks till endgame so my plans turned to weekly now lmao… muri, muri, muri, zettai muri...! ;A;


	30. Knights of the coffee table

As she gets further away from the door, then the submarine, Kat starts shaking. A moment of hesitation; instead of going straight for the bedroom, she walks up to the toilet, which is vacant, to her great relief. The entire ship is eerily empty as people are scattered between the dining room and the shore from what she can hear through the beeping sound in her ear.

She slips onto the floor with back to the wall, and stares into nothingness for at least a few minutes. Returning to reality, she realizes that she's gotten sweaty. Again. And there's also a knot in her stomach. Still a little light in the head, she ambles outside to the sink and leans onto it. Stares another hole into the drain.

She's never felt so misplaced in a body, _any_ body before, dawning sicknesses notwithstanding. Nor can she remember the last time her anxiety got this overwhelming when making a wrong move. It feels as if her ghost was dragging some kind of dead weight around. She… she legitimately just tried to _kiss_ _someone_. On the lips. That's just not something she would do. Even in her wildest dreams, she's only receiving those.

Her comatose confusion soon turns into frustration; this… is so not her. Where's the real Katja and what did she do to her?! How could she have ever mustered so much… such _confidence,_ to just, like… try and do something like that? Maybe, it's just the pill… but quite frankly, all she noticed being off was getting sleepy as fuck. And thinking out loud, which she avoids when in company. Is… is it her 'mask,' then? Or the powers? Can being taller, stronger, or just in a man's body itself, really make such a difference? Is she really like this…?

Kat peeks into the mirror; that's... not Law. Just his shell, and whoever she's supposed to be.

What could he be thinking of her now… _oooh_...

Having spent god knows how much time standing there with face buried in her hands, she decides to wash quick, then go down to the girl's room and be awkwardly miserable there. Frankly, she should be targeting the kitchen, but her nerves killed any appetite she might have had.

She considers lying down upon arrival, but has the feeling that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep anyhow, so… she crashes on an armchair. Staring into nothingness until she gets sleepy… a long-forgotten classic.

Twilight soon turns into darkness, and eventually Nami and Carrot arrive and blind her with the sudden lights.

"Ow," she mumbles while rubbing her eyes slowly.

"Oh… you are early," Nami notes in surprise; "did you piss him off by being nice again?" That still doesn't clear up why she was sitting around in the dark, but…

Ha ha, being… 'nice,' yyyyeah… "I," she heaves a lethargic sigh with hands still plastered over her face, "did worse." Thinking about it… she didn't buy the bear because of… or, did she? No… nope, she did those things yesterday to cheer him up, this is new. Oh… oh, nooo.

It's because _he_ was nice to _her_ later, isn't it? FUCK. How pathetic can she get?! That's pretty much all it has ever taken… she just started being totally suspicious of people's kindness down the line. Except for… this time. Fucking breach in the defenses.

Hearing this, even Carrot slows down, taking a questioning look at Nami. What can be worse with Trafalgar Law than being too nice or excruciatingly dumb?

"Well… did you do something stupid?" The navigator asks before closing the door, zeroing her leftover options.

Kat slides the hands off her vision. "…" Well… technically speaking, "that too." Something _really_ stupid at that. If she didn't do that… this whole situation wouldn't be an issue.

"Then we pass, since you are not the obnoxious type, and that's the last known thing he hates apart from some psychopaths, the government, and bread," the mink shrugs, settling on the coffee table.

"I feel like there's a story to tell here," Nami notes, also sitting into the other chair. "You look quite taken."

"… uhhh… I suppose so," she creaks. Whether she's going to tell anything is another matter. Spilling the beans could make her the laughing stock of the alliance for as long as she's here…

Nope, not happening.

Nami squints at her; something is definitely up. "Well?"

She goes back into hiding and grumbles. Carrot places her hand on her chin, pondering. Her and Nami take a passing glance at each other; Kat is one to answer direct questions that don't involve opinions, so this is certainly out of the ordinary. The mink takes over the interrogation:

"That bad, huh…? On a scale from 1 to 10, how uncomfortable is it to talk about?"

"…" She doesn't want to talk or even think about this, like, ever again… but Kat also feels the peer pressure building up. And she can share this much, if nothing else. "… nine." At the very least. She has no idea what a solid 10 would be, but the minimum and maximum scores might as well not exist as far as she's concerned. There's always better or worse possibilities than what one can imagine. But this one does cut it pretty high, no matter how she looks at it. Fuuuck… how is she going to show her face tomorrow…?

"… so, let me get this straight," muses the navigator; "Additionally to doing something stupid… you did something else that bothers you, personally. And you are, by all accounts… embarrassed?" If not ashamed… it's the best she can figure from what she can see.

She moans again; that's a fucking understatement. She can feel getting red in the face again…

The girls sink into their thoughts; what's something… that would embarrass Kat?

For starters, it's not an easy thing to do. Odd hobbies, odd habits, the worst of what the world of puns can offer, anecdotes that are usually more disturbing than funny, regardless how entertaining she herself finds them… she's not bothered to share these, and also gives zero fucks about her language, which includes everything from obscure words to cussing, and her working class also shines through at times. She takes well to being corrected on things, so that's not it, either.

This has nothing to do with how she presents herself as. The key to this the other involved party, that is to say, Trafalgar Law.

"You either made him so uncomfortable that you ran away…" starts Nami, cocking her head to the right; Kat would probably overreact in a situation like that…

"… or murdered Torao with a cold-blooded joke comment, and he himself kicked you out." continues Carrot, tilting hers to the left. She can say things without thinking that could be hurtful, then regrets doing so right away.

"… or both," they nod together once they've run through the other's idea quick.

Apart from being a cold-blooded ego murderer… they are not far from the overall basic solution.

"Honestly… the quote-unquote worst thing I could think of… is something like trying to get too cuddly with him," the redhead adds after a chuckle. Oh, he'd hate that. "You pass out hugs left and right, but he gets grumpy whenever people dare to even touch him. You wouldn't want lame hugs and never ending complaints." He could barely handle the one he got the other day…

"Ha ha, right! Although… well, it's an extremely unlikely option and you'd be more pissed than hiding in a corner, but I cannot even begin to _imagine_ if he was the one stomping into your comfort zone. It's more likely that you accidentally squeezed the life out of the dude… or were flirting with him, he would probably die from that, too," Carrot nods as they giggle to each other, then catch the flaming red ears behind Kat's hands as they glance back towards her.

… Ah.

" _YOU ACTUALLY HIT ON HIM?!_ " they scream in unison, Nami being more on the horrified side of things while Carrot is more excited than anything else. The awed sparkles in her eyes are entirely unnecessary.

"SO WHAT IF I DID?!" Kat screams back at them in embarrassment and panic, and with a burning-up face. Technically, she just straight-out skipped the flirting part and went for the finish line. She can't quite believe it herself… the more she thinks about it, the less so. Because she never would have thought to be capable of even getting that close to... to kiss someone. Gave up on having any kind of relationship eons ago, too. Ugh. She's having kind of a personality crisis right now, okay?! More importantly, however… "And why are you yelling it for all to hear?!" Seriously…! This is already bad enough as it is.

"Okay, okay, okay, calm down," Nami instructs her after snapping out of her surprise; "Zoro's probably out cold in the crow's nest, and there's noone left on the Sunny right now! Your secret is as safe as it gets!"

That… actually sounds very reassuring after the heart attack; Kat slumps down in relief. She's also on the verge of tears, to be honest.

"Either way, Kat…! What was it that you said?! Was it on accident?" asks the mink without any other care in the world.

"It's… less about having said something. It's what I did by a hair that was out of line." If she's lucky, he didn't get a word of that… what if he can read lips, though? Nooo…

"… like, slapping his ass, or so?"

An awkward smile appears on Nami's face while she starts thinking that maybe she should get a hold of Carrot's horses, here.

" _NO!_ " Kat screams in bewilderment. It's… not without precedent, but the couple of occasions when she did something even remotely similar were all a dumb joke among female peers. Boy thighs and butts are out of question! … even if said boy is in her body.

"Joking, just joking!" Carrot protests with raised hands; "Because we said 'hitting on,' get it?"

Kat stares at her. "… I'm not even getting quality jokes anymore," she sighs eventually, grumbling, with hands on top of her head.

"You're obviously tired, so I don't blame you," the rabbit girl continues with a shrug. "Hell, you are definitely blowing things out of proportion because of it. Whatever you did cannot be all that serious… sleep on it, alright? It won't seem that bad in the morning." Unless, of course, Kat did break the bejeezus out of him.

The initial answer is an elongated, whiny moan. "No, it _is_ bad! _Very_ bad!" she bursts out then, reaching back to the uncharacteristically aggressive voice from a minute ago before covering behind her arms that she pulls forward. Then, she raises one hand up with a gap roughly the size of a longer nail between her thumb and pointing finger; "I was literally… this close. _This close!_ " She takes a big breath before continuing; "To… mack on him." Her sentence ends in half a whimper. Taking another sniffle-suspicious deep breath, she collects her composure and peeks out towards the table from behind her bars. "Then he winced, I backed the fuck out... and we were locked into the most awkward space sharing nonversation of the century." She fucked up sooo bad…

"You… you actually did that?" asks Nami, the reality of the situation setting in. She can see how this is not a situation her friend can handle. Kat… doesn't get physical with people she doesn't know. She did notice her flinching last week when shoving her towards the infirmary, even though she wasn't hurt there; she figured she's overstepped her boundaries back then. Afterwards, she's made a point to let Kat initiate, and it seems to have worked out perfectly fine; now she'll readily give and receive pokes and hugs whenever. That girl really is kind of like a cat in this regard.

Similarly, unless someone straight-out asks for it, she rarely shares her opinion on anything out of her jurisdiction… the navigator had to poke around a little last Saturday just so Kat would tell which dress she thinks would suit her better. Then the spare time artist went into a five minute monologue about pros and cons, and the details of color theory and whatnot… making the decision even harder, to be honest. 'Just choose whichever you are more comfortable in, you will be the one wearing it, not me,' was her final conclusion.

All in all…. she keeps to herself, to an extreme. And today, she intruded into another's personal space, and judging by her recap, and the kind of person Law is… it must have come off as incredibly rude.

"... yeah," She squeaks almost questioningly as she emerges from her shame barrier, then takes a rugged breath and stares at the ceiling. Never in her wildest dreams… What the _fuck_ has gotten into her back then? She refuses to believe that she'd be capable of such an act... "The funniest thing is, though," she continues as her vision slides down the wooden walls, "that the idea came outta _nowhere_. I just had this... garchu moment while the painkiller and drugs were still kinda tickin' and gave 'im this big ole bear hug. Which was fine, aye? But I took too long to leave 'im alone proper, wondrin'bout how small and cold he is right now, and darn me if I did not like this person 'ere as much as wee liddel me did her mum back in them days, and..."

Nami puts a hand out in front of her face, contemplating to wave if she girl doesn't react. "Kat... Kat, calm down, your lingo is getting thick and hard to follow..." The words started rolling really fast somewhere down the line, too.

She does come to a full stop, though; her mouth twitches. "Then, he looked up. At me. That close." She lifts her fingers up again a bit, with downcast eyes; they have been displaying the short distance ever since she gave that estimate. "And that's when I... just thought, 'holy shit.' I mean, I could just... blame being high, but..." She feels like blushing again and puts that hand to her temples.

Carrot, who's been listening all spellbound, looks over to Nami. "… falling in love sounds hardcore."

Kat buries her face in her hands again and moans. "I haven't had a crush on anyone since I was 13. That's a literal decade! This is so embarrassing..." And will be super awkward for however long they'll be stuck like this. Maybe… maybe it will go away in two weeks. Please, be a two to four weeks phase like with anything or anyone this has happened with.

Nami sighs and walks over to her to give her back a stroke. "There, there…"

Having all of this bullshit out of her system (and getting a long overdue, nice petting,) Kat feels really tired all of a sudden. She can finally focus on other stuff now, too; reviewing the convo with the girls, she speaks up again: "By the way… you said the ship's empty? How come?" This place is always teeming with life…

"Yeah, it's Friday, and as Luffy has declared… it's party time," the redhead sighs, straightening herself and stretching. "He dragged everyone past our already half-drunk sleeping beauty out, but I didn't sleep all that well last night, so I'm all partied out already." Having said that, the navigator yawns.

"Oh… yeah, I forgot." She herself told the captain and Usopp about it, too… she needs some goddamn sleep.

"Shit, right…! I promised to get back for another round of booze and the karaoke," Carrot says and jumps up near immediately; "see ya!"

With that, the door is already slamming shut.

"... was Carrot playing your bodyguard, or…?" Kat asks with a raised brow.

"This area gives me the creeps at night," sighs Nami before ambling towards the light switch. "Like, no offense, but this is quite a ghost port." She swears she can see things move in the shadows at night.

Kat starts yawning away again, too. "You are not wrong about that. Ain't nothing in this corner but dying businesses and hooligans." She crawls onto the floor to find her cocoon. "At least the rent's cheap in the vicinity," she moans with the covers already over her.

"That's one way to look at it," the navigator nods, getting rid of her pants. "G'nite," she moans then a little later into the pillow after crashing into the bed.

"Good night to you, too," Kat sighs. She feels more like a zombie instead of a ghost now. Kind of like after crying. Yeah… maybe she really just needs to sleep on it. Maybe.

* * *

... do I have anything to say? Apart from being 2 days late for literally no reason at all? ... I don't think so. (I'm just really not motivated to grind out this shit... it seems p damn pointless when there's no feedback past the odd fave and/or kudo a week, even if I know that there must be up to 15 people actually reading the story as it comes out. Maybe September will bring some comments? We'll see.)

Ignore Tash and Becca, if you will (I have no idea why this was uploaded like a text post... tumblr mobile is shit, man): inexchangeforyoursoul tumblr com/post/177381108227/im-not-the-type-to-be-dissatisfied-with-my-own


	31. We need to talk

8 o'clock; there's noone opening the door gently, nor is there anyone near-falling down the stairs. All is perfectly still.

Law drums on the desk with his fingers and sighs; he kind of saw this coming. Doesn't make convincing himself to go out and fetch the girl any easier, however. He's about as unwilling to seek her out as it is the other way round.

A good ten minutes later, he drags himself out of his room and up to the surface; it's relatively silent for a Saturday morning, but a lot of these idiots have been out partying, so whatever. He wouldn't be surprised if half of his crew was still out snoring on a bank or alley.

It's all the more scary when a masked rando pops up right beside him at the railing of the Thousand Sunny with a cheerful 'yo, Kat' as he starts checking on her whereabouts.

It's Luffy with one of those fucking… things. Looks like a cheap imitation, too. Seriously… if he didn't know it was one of these idiots, he would have gotten a heart attack. He's still way too jumpy in this body, goddamn.

"Strawhat-ya, honestly... does Kat-ya make a face like this all day?" he asks, with mild annoyance, pointing at his scowling self. "Also… take that thing off." It's kind of creeping him out, now that he's taken a good look at it up close.

"Ah, right, it's you, Torao… and nope, it's pretty rare," Luffy nods, then plucks the mask off his head. "Found it between these big warehouses! Pretty cool, huh?"

"I'm not surprised it was ditched… Anyway, if even you can tell that much, then _why_ do you keep mixing us up?" It's been like… no, not 'like,' it HAS been a week, for fuck's sake.

"Well, hugger you is definitely not _you_ you, but otherwise... both Kat and Torao are worried, sad or angry most of the time, so it's hard to tell them apart, to be honest," he states wondering as he drops the prop on deck with relative care and puts his hands on the back of his head to lounge at the railing. "Like today. And, whenever they are really tired, it feels like the prickly needle thing you get when your leg falls asleep. Everyone else tends to be more like... slow waves, when you stand in water." He stretches one leg out and flaps the sandal to his soles.

"Huh?" What? Being talked about in third person is also weird, but… excuse him?

"The feel you two give off is pretty similar is all. Though I guess Kat is also more tense overall, at least she used to be. And she has a lot of weird jokes. That I usually don't get," he squints. Whenever the others find something she said funny and he doesn't get it, he feels left out, really.

"No, I mean… what would she be pissed off at?" And sad. And tense… He won't even try comprehending that other stuff. Anyhow, she can be the very literal definition of a nervous system at times, that's for sure. The very first thing he knew about her was that she was either really nonchalant about something, or about to have a panic attack, after all. And not exactly in the situations that matched those reactions... she shrugged off a date with the Reaper, but was really anxious when Nami dragged her off to get her cuts and bruises treated by Chopper on board of the Sunny two minutes later. But... halt, stop. It just registered… what does rubber boy mean by him being similar to her?

Luffy shrugs. "Dunno and don't really care. It's not even directed at anything, though... which is the weird thing about it." He hops up on the railing to sit, then crosses his arms.

Law sighs… his observation haki will never be on this level. And the way Luffy formulates it is akin to an 8-year-old giving descriptions of a dream, which doesn't help, either. Reading faces and gestures can only get you so far, doesn't it.

Scowling a bit, Luffy eventually comes to a conclusion. "Maybe she just hates herself."

The surgeon is a little taken aback by that; going by what this dunce just said, it makes sense, but... "Why would she...?" he mumbles mostly to himself, also crossing his arms. Going by whatever he could gather from Shachi and the rumors from her time in the dining hall, it did cross his mind that she might have some self esteem issues, that's why he decided to be better safe than sorry and basically walk on eggshells when dealing with her. How she acts in general can support the idea, too, when considering some traits from another point of view…

"You are the one hanging out with her all the time, so why do you ask me?" Luffy pouts. The expression turns into a thoughtful one soon, then turns into mild worry. "… do you hate yourself, Torao?"

In the blink of an eye, he and his body (that's worryingly cold in the first place) both realize that it's like twelve degrees Celsius at best outside, and that not taking a sweater over a thin undergarment and breezy, medium sleeved shirt was a Mistake™. "You're… overthinking it," he responds while waving dismissively.

"Really? That's a relief!" the other captain sighs and puts a smile back on.

"... yeah." Perhaps it all boils down to her having a similar way to handle her emotions? She did keep being in pain a secret, which is something he does, so that's one thing they have in common. But goddammit, Strawhat… don't just say things like this all of a sudden.

He peeks then up towards the garden, where rhythmic little thuds have been disturbing the silence for the past minute. They really ought to talk.

Right now.

This is much easier to do once Nami appears from the direction Kat could be, as the navigator won't let her captain go alone and get himself lost _again_ in town when latter declares his intention to go back, even despite his excuses of being able to see the Sunny from the church tower when it's not dark. Having gotten rid of Luffy surprisingly quick this way, Law stops on the stairs as soon as he's high enough to look around. He peeks towards where he suspects her being, and indeed, the noise that started somewhere down the line was caused by a dazed Kat. He weighs his options for a moment; on one hand, taking some time off is a reasonable way to handle this. On the other… if he leaves this up to the girl, she may never show her face again, which is no viable route for him to take. He'll definitely have to take initiative.

Noticing the light steps closing in on her, Kat stops drumming her heels against the ship.

Law sighs. "Look…. I know I'm making you uncomfortable right now, but I really kind of need my body back as soon as possible." … maybe not the best start, but he got the point across.

After a short pause, Kat bonks her head into the wooden pillar in front of her with considerable power, and takes a long, sharp breath.

Law watches in perturbed bafflement. Um… maybe… it was a bad start, after all.

"I'll manage," she sighs, straightening herself at once. "It's hard to ignore, and cuts my productivity in half, but… is, what it is. I've kind of made peace with telling my boss as-is, too, so that won't be bothering me." She pauses the fast rant for a moment to cut the speed, and stares into the waves licking away at the side of the ship. She had enough time to think about this somewhat objectively during her short-ish wake around midnight and later in the morning. "And you… shouldn't have to worry about it, either. Once you're all gone for good, it will fade away soon. Knowing myself, I might not even be able to remember your name in a few months, anyway," she shrugs all limp. "I'm no good with names, so… it would be nothing new." It's a famous and super simple name that's not hard to catch, so she likely will. Maybe even his surname, since it's a funny one. No promises, though.

… twisting knives much? Sheesh, he never suspected her of being capable of such… savagery. And he thought Luffy was being blunt today… Generally, he likes both of their honesty quite a lot, but Kat saying that he'll be deleted from mind as soon as he'll be out of sight is… a bit too much. And frankly, it hurts like a bitch. If he was in any way unsure about how he felt about her until this, well... there are no doubts about it now. He better keeps all of this to himself, though.

After all... it really is for the best. Technically, good news, even. And he also gets her; it's the pragmatic thing to do. Having any kind of amiable relationship with a pirate is not exactly easy. There's no sure way to reach them, and sending messages to someone endangers that person. Hell, they all could die the day after setting sail for all he knows. A part of him has an even deeper understanding of what she means… it's not about worrying about anyone getting killed, quite the contrary. She's sheltering herself from getting hurt, by simply staying indifferent. He handles strangers the same way, and did the same for the longest time while with the Family: laughing whenever he felt like it... helping if he wanted to, or if he had to... generally enjoying the company, but not building any meaningful relationships. The question is, though... how did she get there, to this mindset? Few normal people do that. It could be just the way she's always been, but considering how much she strives to please people around her, and how sensitive she seems to be to other's moods in the first place…

Who hurt her?

Getting no response and feeling his eyes on her back is getting to her fast; Kat puts her head back against the pole and continues. "... Sorry, that sounds... really mean... but I suck at keeping in touch anyway. People just... come and go?" She shrugs, then starts to swing her legs again, until her heels hit the ship and she stops with limbs still flailing about. "I have no idea what my kinda-friends from high school or college are up to, either. Even when I think about fun times and miss someone… I never sit down and write a letter or go visit. I don't get any further than grabbing a pen, but… what even are the chances they still live where they used to, huh?" She puts on a bitter smile that fades away fast. "Am I... a bad person? For that?" Her voice is unstable and hoarse at this point. She takes a shaky breath, followed by a gulp.

"... no, you're not." Not being able to keep up with people is okay. Being stuck in a cage of her own making is, though. He takes a moment of consideration, then joins her at the railing.

Kat stares down to where her hands should be through the white pillar as Law plops down, then speaks up after a short pause while holding back a sniffle. "The other week, I was wondering... why none of them tried to hit me up, either. Ever. I guess I'm just... that insignificant..." The sniff escapes and she also needs to wipe off a tear.

"…" He didn't plan on joining a therapy session, nor doing anything else past talking, but a good old shoulder pat is definitely warranted here, so that's what he does. Realizing that the cold hand made her shiver is too little, too late, so he just rolls with it. "Now, now… you know like a dozen of infamous people as of last Tuesday, so that automatically makes you count for something." Her self esteem really seems to be in a bad shape. There's definitely some asses that ought to be kicked on these islands, because this is definitely not normal behavior.

Cannot help but crack a smile at that. "If you say so." She rubs her eyes. "Sorry, I went off tangent again."

"As did I the other day… and? Got it out of your system?" Seems like she's bouncing back at least.

"Kinda," she breathes after a pause.

"Just kinda?"

"…" She rests her temples against the railing again, even though it's starting to hurt, bump she just made notwithstanding. "Every now and then, I keep thinking… how there would be someone in my place to do all the things I do." Her eyebrows furrow. "If not now, then later. I'm just another pebble in the sea, and it feels… suffocating."

"… I see." Oh, boy… this actually sounds like more zero filter stuff, but without drugs to make it weird. Which is iffy, since he's far from being a psychologist. Well, is what it is… take notes, analyze, and most importantly, watch your fucking mouth.

"Like, I know it's the same for important people, inventing and doing actual, impactful stuff. Because, there's little difference in the grand scheme of things, is there? It just doesn't matter whether something happens today or in a hundred years. Everyone is replaceable. As is everything else. What I wanna say, is… wanting attention… at all… makes me feel selfish. Even when it probably shouldn't." Feeling the hand on her shoulder makes it tingle… she'd move, if not for knowing that he would lift it off again.

"… Um…" Okay… he might have stepped into this one _hard_. Aside from blinking wildly, because this has suddenly nosedived into deep waters… he needs a second here. The spaced-out girl he got to know in the past two weeks thinks about this shit _regularly_? She did seem less bubbly and _way_ less excitable than she actually is at first glance, but… holy shit. She actually is pretty good at brooding herself. If he wasn't so dumbfounded, he'd be impressed. "… wow, I… never considered the possibility that you could be a nihilist." A very sentimental nihilist. That's certainly what he takes from this. The conclusion is kind of enlightening.

She remains silent for a second, then squints. "... all I crave is death."

Law lets out an exasperated sigh, then slaps her on the back of the head resulting in another light bonk. "Don't you think for a second that I cannot tell the difference between you being serious and on the brink of grinning like an idiot," he tells her off with the other hand on his hip. She may be trying to keep a poker face up, but none can do if she's gonna use that overly dramatic delivery anyway. This woman, he swears to god.

And, as soon as the jig is up, there it is: the smile.

She reaches up to scratch the head area that stings a little after getting smacked. "Heh… sorry, had to break that gloomy mood." Though, no lie, she does like talking about heavy stuff like that. If Law did not seem to be bothered by it, she probably would have continued.

"By willingly pissing me off?" Was that really necessary?

"Well… it worked, didn't it?"

"Touche," he breathes, crossing his arms. "But don't make a habit out of it, if you know what's good for you." If she has actually figured out how to dig down to his berserk buttons, she's playing with fucking fire, and he wouldn't be surprised if she found enjoyment the activity. "I can fix myself up as soon as I get my body back, and rearranging your internal organs or face with, or without my powers, is not beneath me."

She nods, humming. "I didn't doubt for a second that you'd make a feisty kuja, alright. Will not overdo the gremlin act."

"… good."

After a silent pause, Kat stops rubbing her head. "… say, Law?"

He lets out a questioning hum.

"Are you in pain… because you were sick?"

"…" Is there a point to tell her anything if it's so obvious in the first place? Oh well, she's asking, so… "Yeah. There are a few intergrowths I cannot really do anything with. Removing the lead deposits left my body aching at random, the bigger they were, the worse it is… you've probably noticed, but some areas like the left side of my torso and the right jaw are the main culprits. Those spots tend to act out a little even when everything else is fine. And I have additional god awful headaches when it's too hot or cold outside and I don't hidrate proper. These are honestly the worst aspects of it, no lie."

"Act out like... Saturday evening?" When she first noted how something was a little off? It's the only common experience they have…

He thinks for a moment. "Yeah, like that. The odd tissue that seems cancerous during a checkup, I can get rid of... but the fucking pain just won't go away. Unless I kill off the receptors altogether, but that strikes me as an exceptionally stupid idea." Even if it sounds really tempting at times. Maybe if he did it to his internal organs only…

"Wait…" Kat takes the first look at him today, and looks very much taken aback at that; "did you say cancer?" As soon as he looks back, she averts her eyes again. Seeing him, save looking him in the eye, is just… not something she can handle at the moment.

He blinks at the reaction, but keeps his eyes on her for a second. "Heard me right. Don't shit yourself, I can deal with it." Looking back in front of him, he adds, "I'm also legally infertile, but that's the least of my problems." He's unlikely to get old, too, but honestly… there's only so many times you can cheat your expiration date.

"Oh," she says a second later. And sounds quite disappointed at that.

"... don't you 'oh' me. You can have all the kids you want for all I care." As long as her plans involve someone else, that is. … aw fuck, brain, don't you have _anything_ else to comment on?

"Oh, no, no, no, it's just…" She gives the sideburns a scratching; "This is going to sound so stupid… but you seem like… the dad type?"

Law laughs out at the ludicrous idea. " _Me?_ Seriously?" Geez, that's so… out of the blue. Even more so than the being married line. Never even seen him with a kid around, has she? They just tend to shit their pants right away. He needs to put a hand on his temples to process this a bit… and to make sure there's no headache caused by stupid on the way. "God… the hell makes you think that?"

"Well, for starters… someone like Luffy would drop his toddler into the ocean by accident, which you would… not." As simple as that. From what little she's heard about Garp's parenting… even if Law happened to be on the strict side, there is, like, no competition here, honestly.

A millisecond of consideration ends up in a concerned, solemn nod on Law's part. He wouldn't want Strawhat oversee children in general, or at the very least, not leave them with him all alone. He out-dads him in any technicality regarding safety and common sense, so that's a score.

"You still could be fun to be around, though," Kat continues leaning back; "Like… you would totally do something like sticking them to the ceiling as punishment for being bad," she muses with a little relaxed smile, pulling up some average family scenarios. "but, unless you are obviously angry with them, they would love it instead. You could experiment with pretty much everything from floating to chopping them up, but all would backfire spectacularly as they think of it as just another game."

"... can't argue with that," the notes, raising a brow. "Little hellraisers be like that." Punishing a kid that's acting out, well… Best bet would be the basic 'send them into a corner' situation instead of getting creative, huh?

"You'd also be the go-to solution for homework… despite not being helpful at all." Definitely trolling the shit out of anyone who's trying to use him for an easy pass… yes, yes. Would come through when needed, too, she knows that much firsthand.

"Correct," Law nods with a smug grin. He absolutely would be the most useless genius around. It would drive them _crazy_ and he would be enjoying the hell out of it. If they legitimately did not understand something, though… that's actually negotiable.

Having seen enough of his self-assured smile from the corner of her eye, she addresses him directly. "... get off your high horse, Law. You might be a little shit, but you'd also be out-bawling anyone at any milestone your kiddos reach whatsoever," she states with an amused look.

"Absolutely not," comes the indignant reply; "Do I look like the sentimental type to you?"

She takes a long, thoughtful look at his general direction. "Look… I might not be able to guarantee it, but as far as I'm concerned, you would transform into the worst mess of a doting 'pappa' there ever was as soon as you'd be holding your firstborn." First day of school and graduations would be just as bad, if not worse… god save everyone if he's around for a wedding. Him sobbing in a tux while trying to operate a visual transponder is not a mental image she'll forget any time soon. In fact, she's going to treasure the hell out of it. Even if she's more used to him looking like her, so it takes some extra imagination points to see him in his own body.

Her chuckle earns a very unamused face. "I won't even begin to try and imagine what you just thought of, but really? _Really_ really?"

"Ve-really," she states while booping his nose, then gets her hand pushed off to the side. "Honestly… you're saying it's very unlikely in the first place, right?" She ponders, scratching her head while sitting upright again. "You can't tell me that you wouldn't be all over a baby? Beating whatever low odds?"

"..." She's probably not wrong on that one. Up to eight, maybe ten per cent aren't a lot...

"And let's not even get started on the naming process… You have at least…" her fingers straighten one by one; feather guy, little girl, baby's grandparents, and who knows, who else? "four, if not a dozen they'd have to pry from your cold, dead hands before settling for anything else!" He based his entire image on one of these people, for fuck's sake. First boy would definitely get that name, whatever it may be.

… not to mention the chances of a healthy child…

"And… little ones are always sick or some shit, right? You'd go into doctor overdrive. Give them checkups like every fucking week, and be staring from over the bathroom door to make sure they wash their teeth, and… dude, I'd fucking hate to be your kid, oh my god!" At least it takes him like point five seconds to sterilize the entire house instead of scrubbing everything all day like a manic housewife, but holy shit…

"Kat…"

"I have no idea how you'd handle feeding them in any capacity, though… you run, like, exclusively on a handful of veggies, rice, potatoes… and chicken… and fish. And, you _suck_ at cooking." And the occasional drink. Would he be willing and able to make legit sandwiches…? He has no qualms touching the bread, made those French toasts, so that's a start. This kind of presupposes him being allowed in the kitchen like a single dad, but still, she can't help wondering how he would tackle that humongous elephant in the room if the need arises.

"Kat-ya, _stop_."

The edge in the word startles her enough to delete the train of thought altogether. "Uh… um…" Did she say something wrong again? Did she hurt him? Or insult him? Is… is he angry…?

He sighs, staring into the darkness underneath the waves. "I suppose… you are right," he says a few seconds later, his head also meeting the railing. "I am… the dad type."

She stares down at her now interlocked hands; the images she found so amusing before… look sickly and pale all of a sudden. A quick reality check has sucked all life out of them. Managed to fuck his day up again, huh?

"Dreaming… is dangerous," Law concludes. The last time he did something like that… came with just another harsh wake-up call.

"… sorry. Didn't mean to upset you." Again.

"Eh, I'll get over it." However… he's once again reminded of the fact that he'd been living to fulfill a singular goal for over a decade, and ever since he's pretty much reached it, he's been feeling… well, rather lost, to be honest. Stretch goals, like going against Kaido are a sufficient distraction at best. Sometimes he hears a little voice in the back of his head breaking through regardless before muffling it, talking about being tired of this life… bringing up the clinic of his own he's always wanted… having a home to return to.

Peace.

He knows better than to hope for any of that.

A single finger tapping his arm makes him realize that his eyes and nose cavity are burning up. This is followed by her barely audible, little mouse voice; "... Law?"

He takes a shaky breath and rubs his temples, sneaking in a finger to wipe away the half-ripe tear from the corner of an eye. "I'm fine, I'm…" he comes to a halt upon looking at her; "oh my god, are you crying?"

"... a little," Kat squeaks after swallowing once.

Law snorts all of a sudden, then breaks out in painful laughter. The tears are also coming, but fuck it, because... while he's hurting, this… also feels kinda good. Actually, it feels _great_. Talking about all of this… is great. She's a better psychologist than he could ever aspire to be. Cafe girl… you are too fucking nice for your own good. Sincerely, fuck you.

As soon as the surprise wears off, Kat joins in, too.

After a solid minute or two, Law flops on the grass with hands covering his face. "... both of us… are kinda fucked up, huh?" he ponders out loud after the last couple of laughs. It's kind of a dumb question; who even is not fucked in the head from all the people that he knows? He should have known that she was no different, even if the causes are still a mystery. No wonder the two of them can hit it off.

"I guess so," Kat sniffs, rubbing her entire face that must be as red as it feels.

Sliding his freezing hands lower, Law stares skyward at the thickening clouds for a while. Laughing and crying are both exhausting… not to mention doing both at once. It feels like floating in a weird dream. Peaceful, even. Every weight has slid on his back, which is neatly supported by this nice ship made of pure sunshine, leaving him to breathe freely for the time being. He would say a 'thank you,' but it gets stuck somewhere in his throat.

He must be in really fucking deep, huh. Not that he minds, though… it feels really nice, after all. A little too much to be true, yes. But for now… he doesn't want to worry about his short future. Instead, right here, right now... he just wants to enjoy this moment. As much as he can. As long as he can. To the fullest.

* * *

Luffy, son... you are not supposed to serve tea this hot to people… (I wanted that to be its separate chapter, but it turned out to be too short for that, and thus, a waste of chapter numbers.)

Here's today's art:inexchangeforyoursoul tumblr com/post/177659926927/i-put-way-too-much-effort-into-some-of-these-orz

This was the part that was fun to write even while unmotivated. I think y'all understand why. Now, for the less pleasant things, out of which I'm missing the next two or three chapters entirely… ho, boy. Now, _this_ will be power writing. (Speaking of which, thanks to everyone who wrote any of the messages I got to keep me going past this particular chapter? One of them happened to sound hella sarcastic even when it was obviously not meant to be LUL)

Ps.: do not ever sterilize your whole entire house if you have a kid. They are meant to catch things so their immune systems get stronger… and have work to do. Because if they don't, they get bored, and a bored immune system will look for shit to defend against anyway; this is how your kid gets allergies ranging from 10 pollens through animals to fucking SUNSHINE. They are meant to be sick a lot in the first couple of years, deal with it. And fucking vaccinate them, too.


	32. White Noise

"Oh, my, what pretty flowers have sprouted here overnight," comes the amused voice of Robin from behind them not two seconds later.

Law's eyes shoot up immediately, and he also sits up post-haste, almost headbutting the railing himself. "Nico-ya…" he starts with a wary drawl; "since when have you been here?" She's the nosy type, too… might have heard fucking everything. Shit.

Kat also turns towards her with open arms. "Ah, Robin!"

"I see you're in a much better mood than before…. good for you," she smiles at Kat immediately upon seeing her enthusiastic, flushed little face, and sprouts a hand on her back to give her head a scratching, which she seems to enjoy quite a lot. "As for your question… five minutes, maybe?" she shrugs then at Law as the moaning watering can in her hands is put to work. "Your vivid duet was hard to miss," she continues with a chuckle. "You shouldn't lie around in this weather, though, lest you catch Miss Kat a cold for next week."

He feels blood rush to his face again. For some reason, getting caught laughing by her is as embarrassing as anything else. As is getting talked to like a toddler.

"I wasn't planning on staying here much longer anyhow," he grumbles with a huff. "We have business to attend to, not to mention that you being out gardening equals to everything getting wetter and colder, anyway."

Next thing he knows is that she's holding the can directly above him for a quick shower; he's just dumbfounded, and Kat snorts as soon as the action registers.

"You'll be the one to give me a cold this way, Robin," she giggles then just as the woman moves on.

"Sorry, couldn't resist… do you want me to get him one, too?" the archeologist asks then, offering the business end of the object.

"What's with all of you today, I swear…" Law shakes his head, and the curly hair sprays everyone with the water that's stuck among the curls. "Are you standing in for Nose-ya, or what?" Him, Carrot and Luffy are the only ones up for this kind of bullshit at any given time. And Chopper, whenever they can rake him into idiocy.

"I suppose someone has to," she hums, pouring a little of the leftover water on Kat while passing. "It gets mundane without the kids around." The can sinks into a barrel of water to refill.

"It sure was too peaceful out here to be true," the man mumbles standing up, then bows down to shake out whatever water is left and willing to drop. "Or inside, for that matter. I'm missing a bunch of my crew for sure, and by the looks of it, so do you," he says then, straightening up. He'll need to fetch a towel, goddamn. Also, he's officially really, really cold.

"Oh… everyone's being scarce?" asks Kat while wiping the water off her face, then also swishing whatever possible out of her hair. Nami kept her company, but she couldn't help notice the empty seats during breakfast.

The archeologist nods. "Yes… I went ahead and checked the other ship on my way up myself. Nary a soul. And, as you may have noticed already, our wacky musician and sniper, as well as little doctor are yet to be accounted for. Since Franky just left with Sanji and Carrot to shop for odds and ends, this ship is as good as dead," she states, pulling the filled container out of the barrel. She stops to think for a second. "I am a little worried, though," she notes then, looking out towards town. "The boys may have gone out together, but Chopper is not one to stay out for an entire night. As an animal, he needs plenty of rest. I doubt he has that luxury out there… the commotion died off early in the morning, and the music is already starting up again."

"Yeah, it's always pretty noisy on this weekend," agrees Kat while Law murmurs something that sounds like a 'thought so,' likely referring to his crewmates. The ruckus is bad enough that she's decidedly happy over being able to stay over for these two nights specifically.

"If they don't get back soon I'll have to assume they got themselves lynched in a dark alley," the woman declares as the moaning ghost starts spewing water again.

"… even Brook?" muses the girl two seconds down the line with a raised brow and half a smile.

Hearing that brings back Robin's, too. "Even though he's already dead? Yes."

Law finds the idea less funny. "Don't jinx it, Nico-ya. I doubt they would have any problems with some ragtag thieves, but we know for a fact that there _are_ some shifty folks out in some alleys," he informs the woman while pointing towards Kat with a thumb, then starts rubbing himself for some warmth. He could have lived his entire life without having been reminded of that situation, really.

"… oh. Yeah, there was that, too, huh." She… forgot about that, despite the adventure freaking her out quite a lot at the time. Thinking about this, she also stands up at last, patting the dirt and whatever there is off her dew-soaked thighs.

The tense focus returns. "Oh my… then I better get looking as soon as possible, don't I."

"I'm about to send Jean Bart out to collect our entourage, too. Might as well join him." He's there for sure, heard him cursing on his way up. Also the only other person to keep people on task on board of the Polar Tang, so there's noone better to get those sad excuses of pirates moving again.

"Would you be so kind as to ask him to look for our lost ones in my stead, then?" Robin turns to Law after short consideration.

"Huh?" Backing out? Nico-ya, of all people? "Why that?"

She sighs. "I would prefer not to spend more time out with all the bushoo around is all… They make me feel uneasy, even despite the cute costumes." She still thinks it was silly to miss out on most of the fair on Tuesday because of the minute weakness of being reminded of what happened in the city of water when she was alone with Chopper for a little, but last night, the entire flocks of them really made her nervous for some reason. She constantly felt like being watched by those vacant, painted-on eyes. All in all, soon after Nami and Carrot left, she also excused herself.

"Well, fine by me," the man sighs then, giving his freezing self one last rub. "I guess you'll be willing to come practice now, too?" he turns then to Kat while wiping a stray drop of water falling out of his hair.

"Um… yeah." She's getting unsure again, and can already see today becoming extremely awkward with the two of them just… being stuck in the same, cluttered room. Alone. Just… don't think about it. Don't think about it.

"Thank you," Robin nods with notable relief, with the once more empty can in her flailing hand. "And you do your best, alright?" she smiles then at Kat, who's also starting to get cold by the looks of it.

"No need to, Nico-ya," Law replies while moving back direction hellcave, with Kat tiptoeing backwards in tow with a wave and hum.

Pretty much as soon as they enter the metal staircase, it becomes obvious how few people are around. Not because they are not physically present, but rather… the silence is too big for this to be a ship with twenty plus people on board.

Hearing someone make a racket under these circumstances sticks out like a sore thumb, though. As is the one making it in general.

Law turns a corner Kat has never taken before. She follows him awkwardly after a second of consideration, then takes a quick look around the humid room they arrive at; the showers are about as utilitarian as a place like this can get. There's four stalls, and a metal bench and shelves across them where some people have left some clothing articles and soap lying about. She also notes some pipes on the floor next to Jean Bart, who is standing in the middle in a small puddle and fills half the midspace himself… they must be for that leakage problem from the other day. Explains why he's ripping off half the metal ceiling, if nothing else.

"Jean, sorry to bother you right now, but would you be so kind and, uh, 'collect' our idiots from town?" asks Law without beating around the bush.

The burly man sighs. "Did think it right when considering it myself, ey? Will do, capt'n. I'm not the man for the rest of this, anyway."

"Thanks," Law waves with a nod, already turning around to trod deeper down into the submarine. "Oh, and… keep an eye out for the other bunch, while at it."

An unwilling grunt. "… if I must."

By the time they arrive at the bottom, a total silence sets in. And soon enough Kat has to admit that unfortunately, she cannot concentrate to save her life… exactly as she's feared, she has difficulty paying attention. Only after five minutes, she becomes sickeningly aware of the fact that she's all alone with Law, or, occasionally, it's her imagination that starts tugging her away to other times and places. It's all bad or embarrassing memories… no matter which happens, however, it's on the uncomfortable side of nervous. Instead of butterflies, there are barely not cramping muscles on the menu. Not sure whether this is the better of the two worlds…

Just to make things harder, the ambience _really_ seems off today. Like, yeah, the buzzing is still there, but at any other time, there's the crew up and about every now and then on this floor, not to mention their voices can echo down here all the way up from the dining hall. But today… there's nothing. Apart from her grumbling stomach, that is. Like in the evening, she couldn't get much food down her throat at breakfast, and it's finally catching up with her…

After an hour or so, the silence itself has grown into just another reason to be on edge, and soon enough, it's Kat's main concern. Instead of wanting to be in another room altogether, she gets the feeling that there's some monster lurking outside in wait, making this room with Law in it the safest place available. Whenever the bells ring outside, it's like thunder rolling in the dead of the night.

As such, she gets especially nervous upon him leaving said safe bubble after one of these ghastly tolls; if nothing else, it's extra relieving to see his return in a few minutes. He doesn't look all that happy with the situation, either.

"This is getting… weird," he states upon arrival.

"… are they still not back?" That does not sound reassuring. Also, she does need her usual background noise to be somewhat less useless.

The man just hums. "A few of them are, including my three idiots… but something is definitely fishy about this. According to Bepo, they haven't seen most of the crew since around 2 am when they wobbled back home, not to mention that they have apparently not run into Jean Bart this morning, either." He sighs with worry, putting up his right to the chin in contemplation. "Maybe they are planning something stupid, since the other crew seems to be involved… but Clione and Uni are not the types who would participate in that, and they've been the first to bail." In their case, it's been nearly a day by now, too…

Kat also groans. "The submarine is really spooky with nothing but random noises down here… if this is supposed to be a joke, it's not funny."

"Same here. Those three just left again, so I asked them to keep an eye out… we'll see in an hour or two. Until that… might as well have lunch? Or a very belated breakfast… while Fugu is still in." He'd rather not tempt his luck twice.

As such, the girl gets to be in the dining hall once more. It is a very different experience with only eight people around, counting her, Law and the cook. Latter doesn't even stay, but packs up to go grocery shopping as soon as they get their servings. Overall, the eerie silence persists. Once three other people leave to go fishing, it becomes nigh unbearable; it's pure luck that she's finished up by then. She pours another mug of the tasty, warm tea before descending back into the panic room.

Then the seconds, minutes, then likely multiple hours just pass, and pass in the same vein, until there is quite a racket, first upstairs, then quickly closing in as the staircase is indicating. Almost immediately after, the door bursts open, with three very familiar faces.

"Thank god, you're still here," sighs Penguin and nearly collapses from the relief.

"… I'm going to skip the 'learn knocking' part, and go straight to questions," Law insists, his hand nervously grabbing onto the back of the chair. There's officially a problem, and by _god_ , is he in _no_ position to be of use right now.

"Noone's here!" cries Shachi; "First it was just weird, then weirder… since we saw literally no friends out in town…! But then there was one of the fishing rods just lying around outside, and now we didn't find anyone in the hall, either! I poked my nose into the kitchen while Pengu and Bepo had a look at the bedrooms, but not even Fugu is around! Half of the soup has gone and evaporated already… he should have been back _ages_ ago!" By the time his rant comes to a close, he's on the verge on tears. Bepo has been at it since the second line, and is sobbing into Penguin's hat, who's not even in the mood to scold him for getting it all bear snotty.

Without another word, Law is already outside, busting up door after door.

They open every single one of them, one by one, but there's no life to be found. Wherever they look, the hallways, Ikkaku's room, back door of the dining hall, engine, or even the cold room… it's all fallen silent. Not a single soul around apart from Kat, Law, Bepo, Shachi and Penguin. They don't hear any noise until they enter the showers, where the faulty pipe is still dripping from above through the removed panels. The pulsating darkness gives Kat, who's been following the boys around in panicked silence, the chills; were she alone, she'd get spooked by her own shadow.

There's but a ringing in her ears. And it's deafening.

* * *

"Say… you haven't written more than one line a week ever since." "Well… yeah." "What was that about finishing the whole, entire thing by nov 1?" "Apparently just another mishappen promise… but you know what?" "What?" "I can still get this one chapter out and let it be a spoopy halloween thing." "... fair enough. But that will also work only as long as you manage to finish it by then." "… Fair enough."

*writes like 70% of the remaining stuff on the 31st* *leaves the remaining ~20 lines missing for another month and a half* *casually finishes this in like an hour and posts right after on Dec 13th* Did Not Go As Keikaku

(definitely no power writing involved… the next chapter will be even worse tho fuck I don't like writing tense shit) (on the other hand… most of what comes after is already done so that's a plus… question is: How Long Will It Take™?)


End file.
